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COPYRIGHT DEPOSrr 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 






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Daniel McDoxald — First Senior Athlete 

Height, 5 ft. 5 in.; weight, 119 lbs.; Age, 15 years. 

Rating in Posture, 10; Alertness, 9; Running, 10; Hygiene, 9. 

Chinning the Bar, 14 times; Hop, Step and Leap, 28 ft.; Standing Broad Jump, 
6 ft. 9 in.; Trunk Lifting, 3i times; Combination Dip, 14 times; Putting 6-lb. Medi- 
cine Ball, 30 ft.; Chest Expansion, 4 in. 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS 
FOR BOYS 



BY V 



FREDERICK J/ REILLY 



/^ 



« V 



PRINCIPAL, PUBLIC SCHOOL 33, THE BRONX 
NEW YORK CITY 



D. C. HEATH AND COMPANY 

BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 



V. 






COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY 

D. C. HEATH & COMPANY 

1C5 



APR 141915 



CI.A39i566 



DEDICATED TO 

GENERAL GEORGE W. WINGATE 

President, Public Schools Athletic League 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

List of Illustrations 8 

Preface 9 

I. Introductory 13 

II. Physical Training vs. Athletics .... 20 

III. Rational Athletics 34 

IV. How THE Work is Taken up 55 

V. The Exercises and the Apparatus ... 68 

VI. Some Results Achieved 83 

VII. The Pentathlon 88 

VIII. Some Experiments with Girls . . . .101 

IX. Rational Athletics for Adults .... 110 

Appendix 115 

Index 124 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Daniel McDonald: First Senior Athlete .... Frontispiece 

PAGE 

A Modern Varsity Football Game, 1914 26 

A Boy Scout 33 

Fig. 1. — Obverse of Physical Training Record Card ... 37 

Fig. 2. — Reverse of Physical Training Record Card ... 38 

Fig. 3. — Classroom Chart Used in Rational Athletics ... 43 

Fig. 4. — Table of Results, Fall Term, 1914 52 

Fig. 5. — The Two Minute Drill 58 

Fig. 6. — One of the Banners Awarded in Inter-Class Contests 59 

Fig. 7. — Testing Chest Expansion 60 

Fig. 8. — Floor Plan of Boys' Gymnasium 62 

Fig. 9. — The Squads Line Up 63 

Fig. 10. — The Squads in Action 63 

Fig. 11. — Taking Places for Exercise 64 

Fig. 12. — Ready for Exercise 65 

Fig. 13. — The Standing Broad Jump 69 

Fig. 14. — The Combination Dip : First Count 71 

Fig. 15. — he Combination Dip : Second Count .... 72 

Fig. 16. — The Combination Dip: Third Count .... 73 

Fig. 17. — Testing the Combination Dip 74 

Fig. 18. — Target for Practice in Pitching 80 

Platform of Public School 2, New York City 85 

Fig. 19. — Pentathlon Trophy 90 

Field Day of Public School 33, New York City .... 94 

Carol^Ti Miller: Best Girl Athlete 100 

Fig. 20. — Floor Plan of Girls' Gymnasium 103 

Fig. 21. — Target for Baseball Throwing 104 

Fig. 22. — The Girls' Squads in Action 107 

Fig. 23. — The Adult's Record Card 113 



PREFACE 

In November, 1911, the Committee on 
Athletics, of the New York Board of Edu- 
cation, General George W. Wingate, Chair- 
man, issued a pamphlet calling attention to 
the system of ''general athletics" then in use 
in Public School No. 2, Manhattan, stating 
that its ''success has been so pronounced that 
it is desired to call it to the attention of the 
principals and teachers throughout our educa- 
tional system." 

"Rational Athletics," as this system was 
called later, was at that time in its infancy. 
Since then it has been developed to such an 
extent that its sponsors feel that it is time 
a full and complete description of this work 
were given out. Hence this manual. 

The method here described is simply an 
effort to combine the benefits of all-around 
physical training with the keen joy of ath- 
letic competition and to give every boy an 
equal chance — doing aw ay entirely with the 
idea of a picked team. The plan presented 



10 PREFACE 

has been worked out for boys in an elemen- 
tary school. The same method, with an end- 
less variety of exercises, may be applied in 
high schools and colleges, boys' clubs, sum- 
mer camps, in the army and navy, and in 
the militia. 

The author is deeply indebted to the 
teachers in Public School No. 2, Manhattan, 
and Public School No. 33, The Bronx, who 
have aided in the development of the plan; 
to the special teachers, Mr. Barnet Shapiro 
and Mr. Harry Cohen, for valuable assist- 
ance; to Dr. Crampton, Director of Physical 
Training, for encouragement and helpful ad- 
vice; and in a special manner to Dr. Aldinger, 
Assistant Director in charge of Manhattan 
and The Bronx, for unfailing resourcefulness 

in helping us out of difficulties. 

F. J. R. 

New York City, 
March, 1915. 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS 
FOR BOYS 

I. INTRODUCTORY 

Physical training work naturally divides 
itself into three parts: 

1. Corrective work, prescribed for an indi- 
vidual by a competent adviser and designed 
to bring that individual to a state of harmo- 
nious development. 

2. Class work, prescribed for large groups 
and consisting of rhythmic work, response 
work, apparatus w^ork, etc. 

3. Athletics, which means competition for 
a prize either in an organized game, or in some 
track or field ''event" usually restricted to 
a picked few called the "team." 

In the public schools we cannot attempt 
much in the first of these divisions; we are 
dealing with large numbers of children and 
have not the time for that kind of work. 
Moreover most teachers of physical training 

13 



14 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

are not competent to examine, prescribe, and 
carry out an individual scheme of correction, 
even though they may desire to do so. 

Therefore, for the present at least, our 
attention must be limited to the second and 
third divisions: class work and athletics. 

It is my contention that the fundamental 
error has been the separation of these two. 
Physical training class work has been some- 
thing formally prescribed and arbitrarily 
imposed upon the children, with an utter in- 
difference to their mental attitude toward it. 
On the other hand, athletics and the keen joy 
of competition, the invaluable mental, moral, 
and physical training that comes from whole- 
some sport, have been reserved for the favored 
few, and in the process athletics has become 
so intense, so specialized and commercialized, 
that I am not alone in saying that it is prob- 
ably doing more harm than good in our 
schools and colleges to-day. As a separate 
institution, divorced from regular school work, 
controlled by professional coaches whose live- 
lihood depends on turning out a winning 
team, and engaging actively less than 20 per 
cent, of the students in our colleges, it has 
built up a double standard of morals that 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 15 

augurs badly for our future business and 
professional ethics.^ 

The movement to-day, a movement that 
deserves all possible encouragement, is to 
bring athletics and class work in physical 
training together; to inject into the carefully 
prescribed course in physical training the 
vim, the lively interest to be found only 
in some form of game or athletic contest, 
and at the same time to make athletics the 
business of the many, not of the few; to 
bring the benefits of athletics within the reach 
of all; to cleanse it of its present undemo- 
cratic methods and of its ''win at any price" 
tendencies. 

The theory and practice of physical train- 
ing, as in any other department of education, 
must be adapted to the age, to the degree of 
civilization and the conditions of life which 
they aim to meet. The conditions surround- 
ing the ancient Athenian youth, the English 
boy of the fourteenth century, or our own 
early pioneer boys, would all necessarily differ 
widely from the conditions existing to-day 

^ See Dr. Wm. L. Dudley, Physical Education Review ^ April, 
1913; Dr. Chas. E. Smith, Physical Education Review, Jan., 1914; 
Prof. C. A. Stewart, Atlantic Monthly, Feb., 1914. 



16 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

in a great manufacturing and commercial 
city. Nevertheless, there are certain under- 
lying principles that have varied but httle, 
if any, through the ages, and these should 
be held fast and never lost sight of in the 
effort to adapt ourselves to present day 
conditions. 

I should group the aims to be sought in 
physical training under five heads: 

1. Health, the proper functioning of all the 
organs; ability to do a good day's work and 
to become a good ancestor. This implies the 
inspiration of an ideal, the arousing of inter- 
est, and the giving of the information neces- 
sary for an intelligent care of the health. 

2. Strength and endurance. The military 
idea may be subordinated, but it should not 
be lost sight of entirely, since nations, like 
individuals, sometimes have to fight for their 
lives. Strength is needed, also, to play a 
man's part in case of danger from fire, flood, 
storm, or other elemental catastrophe, and to 
protect ourselves and others from bullies. 

3. Beauty of form and grace of carriage. 
These are objects well worth working for, — 
consciously on the part of the instructor, 
even if unconsciously by the pupil. 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 17 

4. A living interest in some form or forms 
of active sport. Such an interest will greatly 
influence the boy's after life by removing 
him from many temptations in his youth and 
by tending to lure him out of doors in hfs 
later life. 

5. The team spirit. To teach the boy to 
work with and for his fellows, to play the 
game for all it is worth, not to give up, and, 
above all, to play fair. 

These ideas are not new; they have been 
voiced by many; they have been particularly 
well presented by Dr. Henry S. Curtis in the 
American Physical Education Review for Feb- 
ruary, 1914. But it is well to state briefly 
here the aims we have had in mind in depart- 
ing from the methods usually followed in the 
schools. 

We have tried to establish a system of 
physical training based on athletics, and we 
have selected a series of exercises which, if 
followed consistently, will, we believe, pro- 
duce a harmonious physical development. In 
our choice of exercises we have been much 
hampered by the lack of equipment, but, in 
the main, we are satisfied with our present 
selections. 



18 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

It is in the method, however, more than in 
the material, that we have made the greatest 
departure. \Ye have apphed the method of 
athletics to our physical training exercises. 
First, each boy is in competition against his 
own record as shown on his record card at 
the end of the preceding term; second, each 
class is divided into three squads, selected as 
boys choose sides by three captains, these 
squads being in competition against one 
another; third, the classes of the same grade 
in our school are competing; and lastly, we 
have matched our school, grade by grade, 
against the corresponding grades in neigh- 
boring schools, — some friends of the school 
having put up a unique set of trophies for 
these inter-school contests. Some *2220 bovs 
took part in these competitions last year. 

In the inter-school contests, 80 per cent, 
of the register of each grade must take part, 
the sum of all the points won by any grade 
being divided by the number competing to 
get the average. This is all-around athletics 
in two senses; first, in that each boy takes 
part in a number of exercises designed for 
thorough physical development; and second, 
in that every boy in the school takes part, 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 19 

except those excluded by the doctor's orders. 
And better still, there is no compulsion about 
it, the interest of the boys being so keen that 
we have to be on the alert to keep those with 
weak hearts and other physical defects from 
slipping in — which is hardly the usual state of 
affairs, as any physical training teacher knows. 



II. PHYSICAL TRAINING vs. 
ATHLETICS 

Physical training or ''physical culture" 
has become almost a mocking and a byword 
in our language. False prophets have arisen 
one after the other, each proclaiming far and 
wide that he had at last discovered the one 
great, infallible system of physical culture 
that would make us all Sandoivs or Annette 
Kellermans. But w^hen we have tried out these 
systems we have found that they consisted 
of the same tiresome daily repetition of cer- 
tain set forms of exercise that very few of us 
have the moral stamina to keep up for very 
long. 

In our schools, one system, one course of 
study, has succeeded another, each beginning 
with bright hopes and each ending in the usual 
disillusionment. And why.^ Because these 
systems of physical training, although con- 
sisting of carefully prepared, well balanced 
series of exercises designed to produce a fine 
condition of harmonious development, were, 
as a rule, in themselves tiresome and unin- 
teresting. If it is a strain even upon us 

20 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 21 

teachers to keep on doing something unin- 
teresting, day after day, in the hope of some 
benefit to be derived ultimately, imagine how 
irksome that sort of thing must be to chil- 
dren ! To stand in rows on the floor* and to 
go through certain movements prescribed by 
the teacher, with probably not the least idea 
of a reason for any of them, doing them simply 
because the teacher says so — is it any won- 
der that most physical training lessons are 
listless, lifeless performances, except where the 
teacher is unusually magnetic and expends a 
great deal of energy in arousing his pupils? 
Is it any wonder that so many boys and girls 
seek all manner of excuses for getting out of 
the work? Isn't it rather a wonder that they 
don't rebel and go on strike against what 
must often seem to them an inane repetition 
of senseless movements? 

Advocates of physical training have pleaded 
for more of this work to be introduced in the 
schools, on the ground that it afforded re- 
laxation and relief from the strain of ordinarv 
class work. And yet every authority is agreed 
that the most exhausting period in the day 
is the physical training period! No clearer 
evidence of the way in which school children 



22 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

have been defrauded is needed than these 
facts. 

Imagine a class marched under strict disci- 
phne up or down several flights of stairs to 
gymnasium or yard, hned up in set order, 
put through a few minutes of ''tactics" — 
marching, facing, forming lines, etc. — then 
a few minutes of ''response work" in which 
they execute new and complicated move- 
ments to order, then perhaps a few^ minutes 
of "rhythmic work" in which they perform, 
in unison, various movements previously 
learned — all, mind you, requiring close at- 
tention and concentration to understand, 
remember, and carry out, or, failing this, earn- 
ing the sharp reproof, the scolding and per- 
haps punishment for not "paying attention"! 
Where is the recreation — the relaxation.'^ 

\yhen it is realized that in all of this work 
the boy has so far not exerted himself any 
more than he could help, that he has not put 
into a single movement any more energy 
than the watchful eve of the teacher seemed 
to demand, vou will understand what Dr. 
Crampton means when he says: "I am con- 
vinced that much of our school gymnastics 
has been thoroughly overloaded with response 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 23 

commands, with the result that we are getting 
httle more than mental work- — a pale anaemic 
attempt at physical exercise, as the man in 
the street knows the term." 

On the other hand we have athletics. 

To judge by the amount of space devoted 
to ''Sports" in the daily papers, one w^ould 
imagine that we Americans were the greatest 
nation of athletes, of lovers of outdoor sports 
the world ever saw. As a matter of fact most 
of us get our exercise by reading the ''sporting 
page," by discussing the decision in the latest 
prize fight, or, at best, by sitting and watch- 
ing some hired men bat or kick a ball around 
a vacant lot. 

To judge by the papers and the popular 
stories of school and college life, one would 
imagine that our secondary and higher insti- 
tutions of learning were maintained princi- 
pally to gather material for the various 
"teams"; and that about all our boys do in 
high school and college is take part in games 
and athletic contests. 

As a matter of fact Dr. Wingert of Ohio 
State University reports that, while over a 
million dollars a year are spent on college 
athletics alone in this country, less than 



24 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

20 per cent. — 16.4 per cent, to be exact — 
of all college students take any active part in 
athletics. Think of it! Over one million dol- 
lars a year spent in exploiting 16.4 per cent, 
of our students! What about the other 
83.6 per cent..'^ Well, they are privileged to 
pay dues, buy tickets, and get their exercise 
by rooting from the "bleachers." There is 
democracy for you! There is equality of 
opportunity ! 

You may ask, ''Why doesn't the majority 
instead of the minority take part in athlet- 
ics.^" For the very good reason that, if they 
offered themselves, nine out of ten of them 
would be promptly rejected. The ''coach" 
has no time to waste on ordinary young men. 
His business is to pick out a few husky young 
fellows and develop a winning team. 

Advocates of the present system maintain 
that "the influence of one hundred champion 
athletes is far-reaching," that "one hundred 
thousand boys will be so stimulated by their 
efforts that interest will grow." Let this be 
granted. But what would happen to any 
of the hundred thousand if they presented 
themselves for training.^ As before intimated, 
they would be promptly ordered off the field. 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 25 

The coach and his assistants are busy with 
the team. 

What a screaming farce it would be if 
the professors and tutors were to select 
from the candidates for admission to their 
classes the few who showed any evidence of 
brains and proceeded f orthw ith to coach these 
individuals for months in the subjects in 
which they were strongest — the other candi- 
dates, meanwhile, playing pingpong or reading 
novels — and, at the end, allowed the latter 
to purchase tickets to come in and watch 
the ''cracks" take their examinations! Is it 
any less a farce for our college faculties to 
allow the coaches to select a few young fel- 
low s, already blessed with unusual strength 
and skill, and groom them for a spectacular 
contest that partakes more of the nature of 
a hippodrome exhibition than that of an 
educational institution? 

A perfect chorus of complaints is going up 
all over the country against the present sys- 
tem. Men who know what they are talking 
about state that the present individual or 
intensive form of athletics is objectionable for 
four distinct reasons: 

I. It Leads to Specialization. The present 



26 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 




RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 27 

system tends to develop specialists in certain 
''events/' rather than all-around athletes, or 
men of sound, well balanced physical develop- 
ment. The famous Mike Murphy, late dean 
of American trainers, said: ''The first thing 
necessary is to find the 'event' for which 
you show the most natural aptitude. Then 
stick to it." 

That sentence sums up the law and the 
prophets in present day athletics. The aim 
of athletics is not to produce strong, healthy, 
self-reliant men, capable of doing a good day's 
work in the world, but rather to produce a 
few experts who can do some one thing better 
than somebody, or anybody, else can do it. 

In the schools, we do not allow a boy who 
is good at mathematics to specialize in that 
subject to the neglect of language, history, 
and science. Why, then, should a school or 
college allow specialization in physical work.^ 

II. It Exalts the Individual. This is one 
of the most serious evils of athletics from the 
point of view of the school or college, and 
yet it is perhaps the most difficult to make 
real to those who have not intimately watched 
its effect upon students. It is positively sad 
at times to see students, faculty, and alumni 



28 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

unite, seemingly, in an effort to exalt some 
fatuous duffer whose only claim to recogni- 
tion is that he can ''run a little faster, jump 
a little farther, or play ball a little better" 
than his fellows. The best students, the finest 
gentlemen, the most able and helpful charac- 
ters, the heroes w^ho are working their way 
through college against tremendous odds, — 
none of these begins to get such recognition as 
comes to the bruiser w^ho can make five yards 
on "a down," or to the sprinter who can clip 
a fifth of a second off a record. 

Read any of the hundreds of books on school 
and college life and see how athletics has 
eclipsed the school in the estimation of the 
students and of the public. The hero is always 
the ''stroke" of the crew, the star "pitcher," 
or the marvelous "half back." The fellow 
who studies is either neglected altogether, or 
treated with contempt and referred to as a 
"grind." 

In my humble opinion, the faculties of our 
schools and colleges have only themselves to 
blame for this peculiar condition. They have 
so neglected the physical side in the train- 
ing of students, that the boys have taken the 
matter into their own hands and, naturally, 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 29 

lacking experience and wisdom, they have 
gone about it in the wrong way. They have 
follow^ed the methods of the athletic clubs, of 
professional and so-called amateurs, and there- 
fore we have all the evils referred to, and 
especially this exaggerated worship of the 
track and field hero. 

III. It Tends to Commercialism, The very 
keenness of the competition, when the fame of 
a school is permitted to depend on the perform- 
ance of a few men, when the reputation and the 
livehhood of a professional coach depend on his 
turning out a winning team, inevitably leads 
to all the varying degrees of crookedness that 
are embraced under the term ''commercial- 
ism." It would seem to be rather a severe 
commentary on our business methods when 
commercialism is a synonym for dishonesty! 
But such it is. 

Onlv those on the inside know : 

1. The ''inducements" offered to promis- 
ing youngsters to join certain colleges — wit- 
ness the scramble last year to get Howard 
Drew, the famous colored sprinter. 

2. The "cramming" to pull doubtful ath- 
letes through their examinations so that they 
will not be barred by the virtuous faculty. 



30 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

3. The sinecure positions and the scholar- 
ships given to athletes to help them 'Svork 
their way" through college. 

4. The secret coaching in ways to beat the 
rules and evade the w^atchful eye of the referee. 

5. The not infrequent ''accidental" maim- 
ing of a dangerous opponent, to put him out 
of the game. 

Even if it were possible to eliminate all 
these evils — and it is not — a system that 
makes athletics the sole, absorbing business 
of the men who "make the team/' during the 
months they are in training, is so foreign to 
the purposes of an educational institution 
that it is hard to understand how and why it 
is tolerated. 

IV. It Leads to Overtraining the Few and 
Neglecting the Many. I have no desire to enter 
into a discussion of the effect of intensive 
athletics on the health of students in after 
life. Where there is so much criticism, it 
seems reasonable to suppose there must be 
some ground for it. The point I wish to em- 
phasize is that no school has a right to allow 
a few boys to be picked out and trained, or 
overtrained, merely to make a show% while 
neglecting the great majority. That seems 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 31 

such a self-evident proposition that I shall not 
elaborate upon it. 

A great mass of criticism of the present sys- 
tem has been written in recent years by high- 
minded men who know^ whereof they speak. 
Many plans have been suggested for doing 
away with various evils, but to my mind 
none of them goes to the root of the matter. 
The system is so fundamentally wrong that 
it must be radically reformed. Even granted 
that human nature could be so changed that 
no college man or coach would resort to any 
dishonest practice in order to win, the whole 
scheme is so undemocratic that it should be 
driven out of educational institutions and 
reserved for the athletic clubs of professionals 
or so-called ''amateurs." 

If there is any good in athletics — and there 
certainly is — then every student is entitled to 
an equal opportunity to get all the good he 
can out of it, just as he is entitled and en- 
couraged to get all the good he can out of the 
lectures, the libraries, and the various other 
activities of college and school life. 

The present system of athletics is a pyramid 
standing on its apex. ''The honor of the 
school" is carried on the shoulders of a picked 



32 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

few, the school team. Let us turn the pyramid 
right side up. Let the honor of the school, 
in athletics as in everything else, depend on 
the high average attained by all the students. 
Make athletics part of the course of study in 
physical training. Let the director of physi- 
cal training devise a course of study with a 
minimum of corrective and educational work 
for securing good posture and muscular co- 
ordination, and a maximum of athletics, real 
athletics, of the kind the boys like. Work 
out a plan of competitions that wdll interest 
the bovs, and thev will do the rest. Give 
opportunity for the playing of all sorts of 
games among the boys of the school, but 
abolish all inter-school contests based on the 
''team" idea; or at least, relegate them to a 
position of secondary importance. If an in- 
ter-school contest is desired, let the school 
team be not less than 80 per cent, of the reg- 
ister, and let the events be such as to show 
the all-around physical training work of the 
school. 

Such w^ork might very properly be called 
''Rational Athletics," and such a plan, worked 
out for boys in elementary schools, is fully 
described in the succeeding chapters. The 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 33 

same method, modified to suit conditions, 
can easily be worked out for high schools 
and colleges. Boys' clubs, Scout patrols, the 




Courtesy of Boy Scouts of America. A BoY ScoUT. 

militia and regular army, organized for athlet- 
ics on this basis, would do vastly more for 
the physical welfare of our boys and young 
men than can ever be accomplished by the 
present intensive, individual, selective system 
of athletic training. 



III. RATIONAL ATHLETICS 

The new course of study, prepared under 
the direction of Dr. Crampton for the pubhc 
schools of New York, prescribes five parts for 
a lesson in physical training. 

1 . Introductory — simple '' warming up '' 
movements to prepare the class for the real 
work. 

2. Corrective — exercises designed to se- 
cure good posture and carriage. 

3. Educational — exercises for ''training 
in form, precision, alertness, control, isola- 
tion, coordination, and inhibition." 

4. Hygienic — vigorous work to exercise 
the muscles and stimulate the organs. 

5. Recreative — folk-dancing, games, ath- 
letics, for fun and relaxation. 

There is good psychology underlying this 
arrangement, and in our work we follow this 
plan, giving about one-half the time of a lesson 
to the first three elements and the remaining 
half to our own exercises, which come under 
the heads of hygienic and recreative. From 

34 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 35 

this it will be seen that the system we are 
here aiming to present is not something arbi- 
trarily opposed to the course of study. It 
has, in fact, been worked out with the full 
knowledge and consent of Dr. Cramp ton and 
with the active cooperation of Dr. Aldinger, 
Assistant Director. 

Rational Athletics is a system of physical 
training designed for use in conjunction w4th 
the new course of study, but offered frankly 
as a substitute for the present intensive sys- 
tem of athletics as conducted under the aus- 
pices of the Public Schools Athletic League, 
and as a vast improvement on the extensive 
plan of so-called ''Class Athletics," also con- 
ducted by the League. 

With this introduction, let us look at the 
Physical Training Record, on which are 
summed up the results of the term's work. 

This Record is written up in duplicate at 
the end of the term. One copy, on white 
paper, is sent home, signed by the parent, and 
returned to the teacher to show him that it 
has been seen at home. It then becomes the 
property of the boy. The duplicate, on yel- 
low cardboard of the same size (d^^xS^O^ 
remains on file in the school, becoming a 



36 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

progressive record of that particular boy's 
work in physical training. 

The first four items require little explana- 
tion. The weighing is done on a spring 
balance with a handle from which the boy 
hangs. This permits much faster weighing 
than shifting weights on a balance scale, and 
is quite accurate enough for our purpose. 
Height is taken by standing backed up to a 
scale on a door frame. Allowance is made 
for the height of the shoe heel, and a class is 
thus weighed and measured in a very short 
time. In fact all through the work every 
effort has been made to economize time so 
that the maximum amount of active exercise 
may be obtained in the time allowed, without 
infringing on the other work of the school. 
This w411 appear in the detailed description 
of several of the exercises used. 

The first five items in the Record, for which 
points are given, form a group by themselves. 
The Running (sprints). Chinning the Bar, and 
Standing Broad Jump are the events used 
by the P. S. A. L. in its extensive plan of 
Class Athletics. These three, with a satis- 
factory mark in Posture, and satisfactory 
ratings in the rest of the school work, form 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 37 







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38 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 



EXPLANATORY NOTE 

*' Rational Athletics " is a system of physical training 
through a carefully arranged series of athletic competi- 
tions. Its object is to give every boy, except those 
excluded by the. doctor's orders, the training in whole- 
some sports that is usually given only to a selected 
team — with this exception : we do not allow boys to 
** specialize." 

Posture, Alertness, Running and Hygiene are marked 
on a maximum of 10. 

In all the other items, the boy must reach a certain 
minimum standard set for his grade, before he begins 
to score. If he can pass the minimum, he wins points 
according to a carefully graduated scale. As the boys 
become more proficient, it may be necessary to raise the 
standards. At present, ratings are given as follows: 

60 points — Junior, or Third Class Athlete. 

80 points — Intermediate, or Second Class Athlete. 

100 points — Senior, or First Class Athlete. 

To qualify as an athlete, there is no scholarship 
test. The rating depends wholly on the boy's physical 
skill. 

To win the P. S. A. L. Athletic Badge, however, he 
must qualify in the first five events on our program 
and must have satisfactory marks, — *' B " or better in 
Effort, Proficiency and Conduct. 

The Athletic Badge, " Bronze Button," is the mark 
of the all-around bov. 



Fig. 2. — Reverse of Physical Training Record Card (Reduced) 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 39 

the basis for the Bronze Button or Athletic 
Badge Test, held once a year. We have 
added Alertness as an item deserving special 
recognition and being closely related to good 
posture. 

The next five (Nos. 6 to 10) are exercises 
which we have adopted as combining: 

1. Good all-around physical exercise. 

2. Natural interest for the boys. 

3. A minimum of apparatus. 

No. 11 is devoted to a rating in Physiology 
and Hygiene as called for by the Course of 
Study. The fact that his rating as an ath- 
lete is appreciably affected by his mark in 
this subject will lend an extrinsic interest to 
this subject that is otherwise conspicuously 
missing. 

Nos. 12 and 13 were left blank with the 
idea of filling in further exercises as the de- 
mand arose. Already these spaces have been 
preempted, — one, as a result of a conference 
with Dr. Aldinger, in which he suggested a de- 
vice for training in pitching, which has already 
been worked out and has aroused considerable 
interest among the boys; the other, a fine 
grip exercise, borrowed from Dr. Crampton's 
health record now in use in the pre-vocational 



40 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

schools. We shall probably not add any 
more exercises to our list. But should we 
find that any one we are now using fails in 
interest, we shall substitute something else, 
putting a paster over the space now given to 
the rejected one. This has already been 
done in one case, where we dropped an exer- 
cise known as ''Trunk Lifting" and substi- 
tuted the High Jump, at the request of the 
squad leaders. 

In addition to this, and acting upon a sug- 
gestion from Dr. Crampton, we examine 
every boy's medical record; and where he is 
found to have some curable defect, in teeth, 
nose, eyes, tonsils, etc., we offer ten extra 
points to be added to his score if he has rem- 
edied that defect before the end of the term. 

The system has flexibility. The only tests 
applied to any exercise to be included are: 

1. Does it interest the boys.^ 

2. Will it help produce all-around develop- 
ment.^ 

3. Is it practicable, i.e., is it safe, and not 
too expensive.^ 

The last two spaces in the Record Card 
are for the total of the points won in all 
the exercises enumerated, and the boy's con- 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 41 

sequent rating as an athlete. The last column 
records the boys who have won the xAthletic 
Badge, or Bronze Button. 

This brings us to a consideration of the 
scoring system. 

The Scoring System 

As stated in the Explanatory Note on the 
back of the Record Card, Posture, Alertness, 
Running, and Hygiene are marked on a basis 
of 1 to 10. The class teacher and the physical 
training teacher, who may or may not be the 
same, give marks in Posture and Alertness, 
at any time, just as they do in Conduct. The 
teacher who gives the lessons in Hygiene, 
generally the class teacher, marks in that 
subject just as in any other. About once a 
month, one or two of the men teachers test the 
classes in running and give each boy a rating. 
The method used to secure the latter is as 
f ollow^s : 

The class is lined up back of the starting 
line, the teacher standing at the finish line, 
stop watch in hand. As the big second hand 
passes over a given mark, he snaps his hand- 
kerchief and the first boy starts to run. As 
the runner crosses the line the teacher, without 



42 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

stopping the watch, calls out the time and a 
boy, acting as clerk, puts it down opposite 
that runner's name on a chart which is kept 
in the classroom. (See Fig, 3,) 

As the second hand passes over the next 
marked division (10 or 15 sees.) the teacher 
snaps his handkerchief again and the second 
boy starts; and so on to the end. In this 
w^ay a class can be tested in running and each 
boy given an individual mark in from five to 
ten minutes. Of course this mark is only an 
approximation, but stop watches are expen- 
sive and we cannot afford to wear ours out by 
snapping the time on every one of hundreds 
of boys. Some day we hope to have an 
automatic recording device for timing that 
will stand up under the use that we will 
give it. 

The distances which the boys run are the 
same as used bv the P. S. A. L. in the ''Class 
Athletics" contests, viz: 

5th Year, 40 yds. 7th Year, 60 yds. 

6th " 50 " 8th " 80 " 

From a study of the various averages in class 
running made by classes throughout the city, 
we have fixed on the following standards: 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 43 









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44 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 



5th Year, 


40 yds., 


6 sees 


6th " 


50 " 


7 " 


7th " 


60 " 


8 " 


8th " 


80 " 


10 " 



The boy who equals these standards is 
credited with eight points. Those who can 
do better are given nine or ten, according 
to their speed. Those who are slower get 
seven, six, or five. 

In the winter months we substitute a 
potato race for straightaway running. Six 
baskets are placed on a line, about ten feet 
apart. Twenty-six feet away from the start- 
ing line, the first ''potato" is placed, and three 
more are placed at distances of eight feet 
each, beyond that, the farthest being fifty 
feet from the starting line. The Eighth Year 
boys use this full course; each boy in picking 
up or replacing the four potatoes, runs a dis- 
tance of 304 feet, — practically one hundred 
yards. For the Seventh Year, we bring up the 
starting line ten feet, which automatically 
shortens the total distance run by eighty 
feet, Hiaking it 224 feet, — about seventy-five 
vards. For the Sixth Year, we leave off the 
farthest potato, thus again reducing the total 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 45 

distance by eighty feet, making it 144 feet, or 
about fifty yards. For the Fifth Year, we 
bring up the starting hne five feet more, using 
three potatoes as before, thus making the 
run 114 feet, or about forty yards. . 

In each of the remaining exercises we have 
estabhshed what we call minimum standards; 
that is, each boy of a certain grade must chin 
the bar so many times, jump so many feet 
and inches, etc., or he scores a zero. When 
he reaches the minimum in any exercise, he 
scores five points. Then, as he is able to do 
more, he earns more points, according to a 
carefully graded system, to be explained later 
in detail. 

In order to keep something like a balance 
between the various events and to discourage 
excess in any one exercise, it is provided that 
no one can earn more than fifteen points in 
any exercise. 

Minimum Standards and Scale 
OF Credits 

Chinning the Bar 

5a 5b 6a 6b 7a 7b 8a 8b 
Min. 34567777 



46 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 



Those reaching the minimum, score five 
points. One point more is allowed for each pull 
up beyond that, but no boy is allowed to earn 
more than fifteen points. This means that an 
8b boy is not allow ed to chin the bar more than 
seventeen times. The standards remain the 
same through the Seventh and Eighth Years. 

Standing Broad Jump 



5a Grade, 


;VIinimum 


4 ft. 3 ins. 


5b ' 




ii 


4 


" 6 " 


6a " 




a 


4 


" 9 " 


6b " 




i( 


5 


" " 


7a " 




a 


5 


" 3 " 


7b " 




ii 


5 


" 6 " 


8a " 




a 


5 


" 9 " 


8b " 




a 


6 


" " 



Those reaching the minimum, score five 
points. Three points more are allowed for 
every six inches jumped beyond that, but no 
boy is allowed to earn more than fifteen points. 



5a 
5b 
6a 
6b 



Combination Dip 

3 times 7a 7 times 

4 " 7b " " 

5 " 8a 

6 " 8b 



ii 



ii 



ii 



a 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 47 

Those reaching the minimum, score five 
points. One point more is allowed for every 
combination dip beyond that, with the limit 
at fifteen points, as before. It will be noticed 
that the standards are the same as for Chinning 
the Bar. 

Hop, Step, and Leap 

Each class is divided into three groups: 

A Boys under 4 ft. 6 ins. 
B " " 5 " " 
C " over 5 " " 

ABC 

5a and 5b must cover 16 ft. 18 ft. 20 ft. 

6a and 6b " " 18 " 20 " 22 " 

7a to 8b " " 20 " 22 " 24 " 

Those reaching the minimum, score five 
points. One point more is allowed for every 
foot beyond that, up to the limit of fifteen 
points. 

High Jump 

As in the Hop, Step, and Leap, the standards 
depend on height and grade. 



48 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

Under Under Over 

ift 6 ins. (A) 5 ft. (B) 5 ft. (C) 

5th Year Min. 2 ft. 6 in. 2 ft. 9 in. 3 ft. in. 

6th " " 2 " 9" 3 " " 3 " 3 " 

7th " " 3 " 0" 3 " 3 " 3 " 6 " 

8th " " 3 " 3 " 3 " 6 " 3 " 9 " 

Those reaching the minimum, score five 
points. One point more is allowed for every 
inch beyond that; limit, fifteen points. 

Putting the Shot 

5a Min. 16 ft. 7a Min. 20 ft. 

5b 17 " 7b 21 " 

6a 18 " 8a 22 " 

6b 19 " 8b 23 " 

Those reaching the minimum, score five 
points. One point more is allowed for every 
foot beyond that, up to the limit of fifteen 
points, as before. 

Deep Breathing: Chest Expansion 





5a — 5b 


6a- 


-6b 


7a 7b 


8a — 8b 


Min. 


If ins. 


2 


ins. 


2i ins. 


2| ins. 




21 " 


2i 


a 


2| " 


3 " 




2f " 


3 


a 


31 " 


31 " 


Max. 


3i " 


3| 


a 


3f " 


4 " 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 49 

Those reaching the minimum, score five 
points. Three points more are allowed for the 
first half inch beyond that; three for the next 
half inch; and four for the next; the maxi- 
mum, as in the other exercises, being fifteen. 

This completes the scoring system as it 
now stands. Of course, the system is flexible, 
and standards will have to be changed as the 
boys become more proficient, the aim being 
to keep the minimum within the reach of the 
great majority after reasonable practice, and 
the maximum high enough to be attained by 
only a few of the best. The rating of Senior 
or First Class iVthlete must not be cheapened 
by being made too common. {See Frontis.) 

The maximum number of points obtainable 
at present is 145, which allows a generous 
amount of leeway as the standards are now; 
that is. Junior, 60; Intermediate, 80; Senior, 
100. When the boys become more proficient 
and enough of them qualify for the higher 
ratings to lower the value of the latter, the 
standards will be raised to, say — Junior, 
80; Intermediate, 100; Senior, 120. 

This year the Boys' Athletic Association 
has provided a silver button to be given to 
the boys who qualify as Senior or First Class 



50 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

Athletes. (See Cover- Design.) This button dif- 
fers from the Athletic Badge of the P. S. A. L., 
in that there are no scholarship or other eligi- 
bility conditions attached to it. It is a prize 
for excellence in physical training, pure and 
simple. One of the remarkable things about 
this system is that we do away entirely with 
''ehgibility rules." Eyery boy in the school, 
good, bad, and indifferent, is entitled to, and 
receiyes, the best that we can giye him in the 
way of physical training. This does away 
with all question of unfairness in marking 
and with all possibility of scandal in connec- 
tion with athletics. As a matter of fact, we 
find that the class and school spirit deyeloped 
by this method is quite as effectiye, in a dis- 
ciplinary way, as anything that can be claimed 
for the old system of admitting to the school 
team only boys who haye receiyed satisfac- 
tory marks. 

This scoring system may seem rather elabo- 
rate and complicated, but in practice it will be 
found simple enough. Each class has to re- 
member only the minima for their own grade, 
which they learn yery quickly. A number of 
deyices haye been worked out for simplifying 
the scoring, which will be explained in the 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 51 

succeeding chapters. In any case, the squad 
leaders will take care of all that, thus reliev- 
ing the teacher of any bother in connection 
with the scoring. 

About once a month, the men in charge of 
the upper classes give a few of their free 
periods, or some time after school hours, to 
testing the classes. The results of these tests 
are posted on a big chart which hangs in a 
prominent place on the classroom wall, where 
all can see it. (See Fig. 3.) 

It will be noticed that the class teacher 
has practically no recording to do. At the 
end of the term she simply transcribes the 
records from the chart to the Record Card; 
that is all. In fact, the pupil who has 
been acting as clerk may do this transcribing, 
if desired. 

The Basis for Our Standards 

A study of the following table of results 
obtained by 220 boys in the Fall Term, 1914, 
will show^ how our standards and scale of 
credits are determined. 

This table shows: 

1. The number of boys in each grade who 
failed (F) to reach the minimum for the grade. 



52 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 



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Cl. 

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RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 53 

2. The number who quahfied (Q) ; that is, 
those who reached some point between the 
minimum and the maximum. 

3. The number who went the hmit (Z); 
that is, those who reached or surpassed the 
maximum for the grade. 

In Chinning, we found that 33 per cent, had 
failed. It was evident, therefore, that the 
standard was too high. A study of the 
figures showed that there was improvement 
up to the Eighth Year, where there was a de- 
cided falhng off. It was evident that the 
boys, arriving at the age of puberty, gaining 
in weight more than in strength, should not 
be required to reach a constantly rising mini- 
mum. Consequently the minimum now re- 
mains at seven throughout the Seventh and 
Eighth Year grades. 

In the Broad Jump, we found that only 
11.8 per cent, failed to qualify; from which 
we concluded that our minimum was correct. 
But no one had reached the limit. Conscr 
quently w^e decided to give one and a half 
points credit for every three inches, instead 
of one point as before. To avoid fractions, 
we made it three points for every six inches 
beyond the minimum. 



54 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

In the Combination Dip, we found the same 
condition as in Chinning, and evidently for 
the same reason. The standards were there- 
fore modified to correspond with the new 
standards in Chinning. 

In the Hop, Step and Leap, we found that 
many boys in the lower classes were failing 
and none at all in the upper classes. Evi- 
dently, therefore, a uniform standard, de- 
pending on height alone, was not correct. 
Consequently we low^ered the minimum for 
the Fifth Year grades and raised it for the Sev- 
enth and Eighth, keeping the same relative 
standards for height as before. 

In Trunk Lifting, so many reached the 
limit, that we decided that the exercise was 
too easy. We therefore dropped it, substitut- 
ing the High Jump, which the boys had been 
practicing all the previous term, although they 
had not been rated in it. Tests made recently 
gave us the basis for our standards. 

In the Shot Put, we found 58 per cent, of 
failure. It was evident that the standards 
were too high all along the line, so they w^ere 
reduced two feet for each grade. 

In Deep Breathing, the results showed that 
our standards were correct. 



IV. HOW THE WORK IS TAKEN UP 

We come now to the question of how the 
boys get time for the practice of all these 
exercises 5 without exceeding the time allowed 
for physical training. 

To begin with, the boys of each class are 
divided into three squads, each under a cap- 
tain elected by themselves. As this squad 
organization is at the basis of all our work, 
it is most important that the leaders be well 
chosen. The best plan is to have the boys 
elect three, the teacher reserving the right to 
veto only in case weak or otherwise undesir- 
able boys are chosen. Then let these leaders 
select their squads, one boy at a time, in turn, 
just as boys choose sides for a game. Should 
a leader be found lacking in the qualities 
necessary for leadership, a new election should 
be held. In fact it may be a good plan to 
change leaders occasionally. There should 
be considerable wholesome rivalry between 
the squads, each striving to beat the others 
and to contribute the greatest number of 

55 



56 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

points to the class average. These squads 
work together at all times, both in the class- 
room and in the gymnasium. Each squad 
leader is provided with a little notebook in 
which he keeps the records of his squad. 

In the Classroom 

Chinning bars have been put up in the door- 
way of every classroom from Grade 5a, up. 
At ten, eleven, and tvv^o o'clock the gongs ring, 
whereupon each class stops work, rises, opens 
the windows and does the " Two Minute Drill," 
— the setting-up exercise prescribed by the 
course of study. A± ten o'clock, squad number 
one goes to the doorway and practices Chin- 
ning under the charge of its leader, squad 
number two practices the Combination Dip, 
squad number three and all the girls do the set- 
ting-up exercises. At eleven and at two o'clock 
they change, so that each squad does each 
of these three exercises at least once in the 
day. Changing the order occasionally may 
be worth while. As the boys become inter- 
ested, they find extra opportunities for prac- 
tice at odd moments before nine and one, or 
when they have finished a piece of a\ ork and 
are waiting for the others. {See Fig. 5.) 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 57 

During the study period, or while some 
written work is being done, boys are allowed 
to go up, one or two at a time, to practice 
Chinning, or to spread oak tag sheets, or 
wooden frames made for the purpose, on the 
floor and practice the Combination Dip. It 
is surprising how much can be done in this 
way without disturbing the good order of 
the class or distracting attention from the 
regular work. 

A visitor timing a boy one day, found that 
he left his seat, went to the door, chinned the 
bar thirteen times, returned to his seat and 
resumed his work in forty -three seconds! 

One class, by getting in each day a little 
extra practice in this way, ran up their points 
on these exercises so high that we had to 
change our standards and set limits that were 
before unnecessary. 

Practice in Deep Breathing or Chest Ex- 
pansion is done as part of the ''Two Minute 
Drill." This breathing exercise as commonly 
practiced is a good deal of a farce, the chil- 
dren moving their shoulders up and down and 
only pretending to breathe. But when you 
make it a game which they are playing to 
win, when their individual record and the 



58 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 



r 

1 

1 H ^ 


^d 


1 , #>v: 










^^B ^ ^i^^^^ 


1 


1* 




T 


MM''^ — :HB|iiMa 


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2 s 



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r^ -< CSS 






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RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 59 



winning of a trophy for their class or their 
school may depend upon it, then they really 
do breathe, and deeply, too! We try to get 
them to form the habit of doing this breath- 



D E E P I 
BlEATHINl* 
7TM YfARi 
WiNt^ BY 



Fig. 6. — One of the Banners Awarded in 
Inter-class Contests 

ing exercise when they arise in the morning, 
and also, when they get out in the street on 
their way to or from school. And we know 
from the improvement shown that we have 
in a great measure succeeded. 



60 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

In testing the chest expansion, which is 
done about once a month by one of the men 
teachers, a tape is passed around the chest 
just under the shoulder blades and the pec- 
toral muscles, at right angles to the back- 
bone. This is what is known as measuring 
on the ninth rib. {See Fig, 7.) 




Fig. 7. — Testing Chest Expansion 

In this test the boy first inhales, then ex- 
hales as hard as he can. The tape is then 
drawn snug and the teacher calls out the 
measurement, which is put down on the chart 
by the pupil acting as clerk. Then the boy 
again inhales, expanding his chest as much as 
he can, the tape is again drawn snug, and the 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 61 

measurement called off and recorded. The 
difference is the measure of expansion. After 
a little practice, the teacher becomes familiar 
with the grade standards and calls out the 
number of ''points." 

The competition in Deep Breathing, how- 
ever, is not limited to the boys. Inter-class 
contests, including boys and girls, are con- 
ducted, and simple banners of blue felt, 
appropriately lettered (see Fig. 6), are awarded 
the classes showing the best average expan- 
sion. The girls are tested by some of the 
women teachers, during a physical training 
period. 

This completes the list of exercises that 
can be taken care of in the classroom. 

In the Gymnasium 

As our classes are mixed, boys and girls, 
the boys of two classes are combined in a 
physical training lesson, the girls combining 
in the same way. This usually brings six 
squads in each physical training class. The 
lower classes take four twenty -minute periods 
a week; the upper classes two forty -minute 
periods. Of the twenty-minute periods, two 
are devoted to the exercises prescribed by 



62 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 





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Fig. 8. — ^ Floor Plan of Boys' Gymnasium Shoamng Arrange- 
ment OF Squads 

the course of study and two are given to our 
own exercises. In the forty-minute periods, 
the lesson as a whole is taken as outlined at 
the beginning of the preceding chapter, one- 
half the time being given to the introductory, 
corrective, and educational work, and one- 
half to our own work. We have thus two 
twenty-minute periods a week devoted to 
this style of athletics. 

At a given signal, squad one goes to the 
mat prepared for the Standing Broad Jump; 
squads two and three line up opposite the 
High Jump stands ; squad four goes to the 
mats arranged for the Hop, Step, and Leap; 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 63 




Fig. 9. — The Squads Line Up 



squads five and six take positions back of 
marks on opposite sides of the floor, for Shot 
Putting. (See Fig. 9.) At a second signal 




Fig. 10. — The Squads in Action 

{Showing five squads at work, the sixth — putting the shot — being 
out of range of the camera.) 



64 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 




Fig. 11. — Taking Places for Exercise 



they begin work, each squad under the dh'ec- 
tion of its captain, the teacher intervening 
only when some particularly bad ''form" 
needs correcting. 

At the sound of the whistle, work 
stops. 

At "Line up!'' each squad forms in line; 
at "To Places, Marchr' each squad, led by 
its captain, marches to the next position on 
the floor. Squad one goes to position two, 
and so on, squad six going to position one. 
When everybody is working, it is remarkable 
how much can be accomplished in two and 
one-half to three minutes. In a few lessons 
the squads learn the order of exercises and 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 65 




Fig. 12. — Ready for Exercise 



they go from one to another with a spontane- 
ity that must be seen to be appreciated. 

When beginning the work on any exercise, 
it is necessary of course to teach it to the 
class as a whole. Figures 11 and 12 show a 
class spreading sheets of oak tag or wrapping 
paper on the floor preparatory to a lesson 
on the Dip. In the same way it is necessary 
to teach the rudiments of even the Standing 
Broad Jump in order to get good results. 
So also with the Hop, Step, and Leap, and the 
Shot Putting. These are complicated move- 
ments which must be analyzed and taught 
one part at a time. For example: 

Draw on the floor two parallel lines about 



66 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

four feet apart; have the class run in column 
around the floor and hoy over the space 
between these two hues which represents a 
stream of water. Then have them stejp over 
it; then jump over it. Then combine the 
hop and the step; the step and the jump; 
and finallv the three. 

So with Putting the Shot: Teach first the 
balancing, then the sudden twist, reversing 
the position of the feet without going over 
the line, and shooting the arm forward. Only 
when they have mastered all this, should 
the httle skip with which the movement is 
started be added. The Shot Put can be taken 
as a mimetic exercise by the class as a whole 
until the form is learned. It is the most 
difficult of all the exercises and one of the 
most popular. {See Frontispiece.) 

But we must not lose sight of the fact that 
our boys, having been started on the road 
toward securing a good rating as athletes 
and their interest having been aroused in 
winning trophies for their class or their school, 
will buckle down and learn these exer- 
cises, viewing them as a game which they 
want to learn so that they can play it to 
win. The word athlete is a word to conjure 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 67 

with. No boy wants to take home a report 
showing that he has failed to quahfy even as 
a ''Third Class Athlete." And the husky 
fellows all want to get a Senior rating. 

Then again, the squads, if properly handled, 
are competing against one another. In any 
case there should be a lively competition 
between the classes of the same grade. A 
little banner or other trophy, presented in 
assembly to the classes making the best 
showing, will be an added incentive. And 
then if the school is in competition, grade 
by grade, with neighboring schools, the school 
spirit, so easily aroused, will be another incen- 
tive to the boys to master the details of the 
exercises as soon as possible and to acquire 
proficiency in them. 

This personal, impelling incentive is the 
essence of ''Rational Athletics." It is this 
incentive, appealing to the boy in so many 
different ways, that distinguishes this system 
from any and all others. 



V. THE EXERCISES AND APPARATUS 

Chinning the Bar 

Regular chinning bars for classroom doors 
can be ordered from the Supply Department; 
but any stout bar, securely fastened, will do. 
A box, or short steps for the little fellows to 
climb up on, is better than using a chair. 
Wooden cleats fastened on either side of the 
door frame, a foot or so from the floor, make 
a handy means of climbing up to the bar. 
The bar should be placed so as to avoid as 
far as possible the danger of striking the head 
against the top of the door frame. 

The boy must first hang from the bar, arms 
and legs straight, then pull himself up so that 
his chin is just over the bar. It must be a 
dead pull up, no snap, swing, or kick being 
allowed. Boys who are unable to pull them- 
selves up at all should practice rope climbing. 

Standing Broad Jump 

Boys should be trained to make one good 
stretch, gather themselves together for a 

68 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 69 

spring, and then to jump high, gathering their 
feet under them and swinging the arms for- 
ward, sharply, but landing in such a way 
as to fall forward. To fall or step back after 
landing constitutes a foul. We find that it 
pays to have one boy hold a stick about a 




Fig. 13. — The Standing Broad Jump 



foot from the ground so that the boys must 
jump over it. As a rule boys fail to get dis- 
tance because they don't jump high enough. 
Attention is invited to our arrangement 
of the mat for jumping. (See Fig. 13.) One 
end of a regular ten-foot gymnasium mat is 
bolted to a board running under the mat. 
At the middle of this board, another, at right 



70 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

angles to it, connects it with a jumping plat- 
form about eighteen inches square. This is 
not a spring board, but simply a sohd plat- 
form of two thicknesses of seven-eighths inch 
boards, covered with a square of ordinary 
rubber stair-tread. This gives the jumper 
a solid, non-slipping platform, about on a 
level with the mat. He is not allowed to 
use the edge of this board as a take-off, 
but must jump from behind a hue marked on 
the rubber. This platform is bolted to the 
wooden crosspiece with stout hinges, so that, 
when not in use, it may be thro^^Ti over on 
the mat, and the whole thing rolled up and 
put out of the way. 

Measuring from the hue marked on the 
jumping platform, lines are painted three 
inches apart on the mat. These are marked 
every six inches, on one side beginning with 
four feet three inches, the minimum for 5a, 
and on the other side beginning with four 
feet six inches, the minimum for 5b. It is 
not necessary to measure each jump with a 
tape line, as the jumper is credited with the 
distance of the last line which he cleared on 
the mat. To make it easv to convert the dis- 
tance jumped into ''points" according to our 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 71 




Fig. 14. — Combination Dip: First Count 

system, use a board six feet long and about 
six inches wide, with crosshnes six inches 
apart, marked 5, 6, 7, etc. The hue marked 
5 is placed alongside of the line on the mat 
that measures the minimum distance for that 
grade. By the use of this device of a movable 
bar, the person in charge can tell at a glance 
just how many points each jumper earns. 

Combination Dip 

The Combination Dip is one of the best 
all-around exercises known. It brings into 
play the arms, shoulders, back, loins, and legs. 
Care should be taken to keep the hips high 
and the back flat, avoiding the ''sway-back" 



72 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 




Fig. 15. — Coaibinatiox Dip: Second Count 



position, which is not good. It is done as 
follows : 

1. Place the hands on the floor, the width 
of the shoulders apart. 

2. Stretch the legs straight back, resting 
the weight on the hands and toes. 

3. Bend the arms until the chest (not ab- 
domen nor knees) touches, or nearly touches, 
the floor. 

4. Straighten the arms. 
5-6. Dip again. 

7-8. Dip a third time. 

9. Bring up the feet to the crouching posi- 
tion (same as in 1). 

10. Stand erect. 
11-12. Rest. 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 73 





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Fig. 16. — Combination Dip: Third Count 



1. Begin again, repeating the twelve counts. 

The twelve counts constitute one Combina- 
tion Dip. When the boys have mastered the 
details, the leader should count at a uniform 
rate of about forty to the minute, emphasizing 
the odd numbers. 

In teaching this exercise to the class, oak 
tag sheets or wrapping paper should be spread 
on the floor as shown in Figures 11 and 12. 
In practice, we use little wooden frames, con- 
sisting of two handles nailed to two cross- 
pieces about the width of a boy's shoulders 
apart. In testing, we place a platform bell 
on this frame which the boy must ring by 
pressing on it with his chest at each dip. 
{J^ee Fig. 17.) 



74 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 




Fig. 17. — Testing the Combination Dip 



Hop, Step, and Leap 

In this the boy takes a running start, then 
springs from his right foot, landing on his 
right (hop), then on his left (step), and then 
on both feet (leap). It is an exercise that is 
popular with boys, but, contrary to usual 
expectations, requires some careful teaching 
before many of them get it right. 

For this exercise we use a rubber jumping 
mat on the floor, and three or four regular 
gymnasium mats in series, covering something 
over thirty feet, in all. A broad white line is 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 75 

painted on the floor and on the rubber mat, 
about fifteen inches from the end. This is the 
starting fine; and each boy must learn to 
run and toe this hne as nearly as possible just 
before he makes his hop. 

Beginning at sixteen feet from the start- 
ing line, lines one foot apart are painted on 
the floor alongside of the mats and marked 
16, 17, 18, 19, 20, etc. The rubber mat with 
its starting line is easily kept in place. The 
other mats will shift and ''creep" a little, 
but as the distances are marked on the floor, 
this does not matter. 

As explained in the preceding chapter, the 
minimum distance in this exercise depends 
upon the boys' height, — those under four 
feet six inches having to cover sixteen feet, 
and so on, up. 

The boys are measured and marked A, B^ 
and C in the squad leader's book. He then 
knows what they have to do. 

High Jump 

For practice in the High Jump we provide 
two sets of jumping bars, one for the little 
fellows, and one for the big fellows who can 



76 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

jump higher. The two squads break up au- 
tomatically, each boy going to the bar that 
is placed at the height that suits him best. 
An ordinary gymnasium mat is placed behind 
each bar for the boys to land on, and a square 
yard of corrugated rubber is placed in front, 
from which they can 'Hake off" without 
danger of slipping. 

In jumping, as in practically all other 
sports, the tyro invariably starts wTong. 
The favorite, and apparently natural, way to 
do the High Jump, is to go over the bar side- 
ways. It is easy, however, to demonstrate 
that the boy who uses the side jump must 
lift his body high enough to go over the bar 
in a sitting position, his hips clearing the bar 
and his body nearly vertical. 

It pays in the end to learn the more diffi- 
cult straight jump, — in which, taking off, say, 
with the right foot, the left leg is thrown high 
and straight to the front, the right foot be- 
ing then snapped over in front of the left 
knee, the body clearing the bar, feet first, in an 
almost horizontal position. Taking off with 
the right and throwing the left leg up, natu- 
rally turns the body so that it goes over the 
bar facing to the right. Taking off with 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 77 

the left foot would, of course, turn the body 
the other way. The important point is, that 
shooting over the bar, feet first, necessitates 
raising the weight of the trunk only a foot or 
so, while the side jump requires lifting the 
body high enough to sit up on the bar. 

Four things must be observed by the boy 
who would master the art of high jumping: 

1. Not to run too far or too fast; save the 
strength for the spring. 

2. To be careful to take off far enough 
from the bar to bring the left leg up, straight, 
without kicking the bar. 

3. To snap the right leg over in front of 
the left, not behind it. 

4. Not to try for height until he has 
mastered the form, — which may require 
weeks of practice. 

Putting the Shot 

To begin with, we don't put a ''shot." 
That would be rather dangerous with so many 
boys on the floor. We use instead a six 
pound medicine ball. This is rather clumsy, 
which makes it impossible to get perfect form. 
But we come pretty near it, and we get the 



78 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

spirit of the exercise. The boys hke it im- 
mensely, — and why shouldn't they? It is a 
fine manlv exercise, one that they can follow 
up outside of school and in after years, — 
which is one of the great objects of the sys- 
tem; namely, to get boys, all of them, inter- 
ested in wholesome outdoor sports and to help 
them secure such a degree of proficiency that 
they can enter into, and take part in sport 
anywhere. 

Two fines, seyen feet apart, painted on the 
floor, indicate the seyen foot circle. Begin- 
ning at sixteen feet from the starting line, 
measuring lines, one foot apart, are painted 
on the floor, marked on one side, 16, 18, 20, 
22, 24, etc., and on the other 17, 19, 21, 23, 
25, etc. Thus the squad leader can see at 
a glance how many feet each boy ''puts." 
At the other end of the gymnasium and a 
fittle to one side, another ''circle" and set 
of lines run in the opposite direction. 

Two squads are engaged in putting the 
shot at the same time and two medicine 
balls are in use. Squad one "puts" down on 
one side, the ball is stopped and rolled oyer 
to one of squad two, who "puts" it back 
on the other side. So the two balls are kept 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 79 

circulating and no time is lost in send- 
ing them back to the starting line. With 
three balls in use there would be even 
less slack, or loss of time. And time is the 
big factor where you want to make ''tries" 
at four different things inside of twenty 
minutes. 

We find that, once the exercises are learned 
and the boys trained to change positions 
quickly and in good order, an ordinary class, 
of say forty-five boys, six squads of seven or 
eight boys each, may have several chances each 
at every one of the exercises. 

When we introduce pitching, we shall 
have only one squad, divided into two parts, 
doing the High Jump. The point is that 
three squads in a class, six squads in a com- 
bined class, is a convenient number, and we 
shall, therefore, continue to have six different 
''positions" on the floor of the gymnasium 
for these six squads. 

The target for practice in pitching (See 
Fig. 18) deserves a word of explanation here. 
On a regular gymnasium mat, we have 
painted a diagram, in height between an 
average boy's knee and shoulder, representing 
the space over the home plate, and within 



80 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

which a ball must be placed to be called a 
"strike." 

As the art of pitching consists of foohng 
the batter by "cutting the corners" of the 




Fig. 18. — Target for Practice ix Pitching 

plate, we have marked off the four corners 
and numbered them. The pitcher who can 
place four out of six balls in the four corners 
of the target scores ten points — the sum of 
1, 2, 3, and 4. If he places three, he scores 
nine; two, scores seven; one, scores four. But 
down the middle of the target there is painted 
a narrow space called "the groove." If he 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 81 

places the ball there, it is squarely over the 
middle of the plate, and the batter is cred- 
ited with having made a hit. That stops the 
pitcher. Each boy is given six baseballs. 
He can waste two on "balls" and yet make 
a perfect score of ten. But the moment he 
places one in the ''groove," he must stop and 
give way to the next boy, scoring only what 
he has made up to that point. 

At the beginning, a distance of about thirty 
feet will be found sufficient. As the boys 
improve in control of the ball, the distance 
can be increased up to the regulation distance 
of the pitcher's box. This game is not yet in 
regular use, but it has been tried with a few 
of the boys, who found it so fascinating that 
they didn't want to quit practicing. 

The exercises here described and the order 
in which they are taken up in a lesson have 
been arranged with considerable care, after 
some years of experiment and practice. We 
do not claim to have discovered an ideal set 
of exercises, but we do believe that w4th the 
incentive supplied by the ever-present idea 
of competition, our boys are receiving a train- 
ing that makes for the five aims mentioned 
in the introductory chapter, — health, strength, 



82 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

grace, love of wholesome sports, and the 
courage and pluck that ''goes the limit," but 
without a thought of unfairness. We know 
that when our boys have finished the ex- 
ercises above described, they have received 
what Dr. Crampton calls for, when he says: 
''We want in every lesson a strong vasomotor 
reaction, the heart and lungs stimulated, 
the skin reddened, the viscera squeezed and 
jarred, and each muscle given its appropriate 
work and growth stimulation." 

If the reader will try the exercises himself, 
he will probably agree with this statement. 



VI. SOME RESULTS ACHIEVED 

This system of athletics for all boys origi- 
nated in Public School 2, Manhattan, in the 
Winter of 1909-10. In June, 1910, the boys 
of No. 2, who had never before been heard 
from in athletics, missed the district cham- 
pionship by only one point! In June, 1911, 
they captured the district championship quite 
handily, and in June, 1912, they declined 
even to send a team to compete. They 
were too busy working up their rational sys- 
tem of athletics for all, to spend any time 
in developing a picked team to represent the 
school. As a result they captured every trophy 
for Class Athletics for which they were eli- 
gible to compete during that entire year. (See 
P. S. A. L. Handbook, 1912, and cut on p, 85.) 

Unfortunately, just at that time, the author 
was transferred to his present school in the 
upper part of the Bronx, where it was neces- 
sary to begin again ''from scratch." 

83 



84 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

The system has now been in use here for 
nearly two years and the results have been 
quite as startling in many ways. 

In the Standing Broad Jump, the minimum 
has remained the same, but the number 
qualifying and the scores made have improved 
greatly. 

In the Combination Dip and the Trunk 
Lifting, we were forced to put a limit to the 
number of points that could be won, because 
so many boys, after a few months, could 
keep on doing these exercises almost indefi- 
nitely. Finally, as stated before, we dropped 
Trunk Lifting as being too easy. 

In the Hop, Step and Leap, whereas at the 
beginning it was only the exceptional boy 
who could qualify, it is now the exception 
who does not go beyond the minimum 
standard. 

In Putting the Shot, the progress has not 
been so marked. This is due partly to the 
inherent difficulty of the exercise, but mostly 
to the fact that the medicine ball which we 
use is rather clumsy. The boys find it almost 
impossible to balance that big ball on the 
hand while doing the skip and the twist neces- 
sary for a good ''put." We expect soon to 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 85 




86 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

secure a smaller ball of the same weight. 
When that is put into use, the scores for 
the Shot Putting will undoubtedly show a 
big rise. 

In Deep Breathing some remarkable results 
have been achieved. One class showed an 
average increase of over one inch in expansion, 
in less than three months. This, of course, 
is exceptional. But a typical example of 
improvement is shown by comparing the 
records of the 8a class in November, 1913 — 
Average, 2.92 inches, — with the 8a record 
in November, 1914 — Average, 3.34 inches! 
And in taking these records, it must be borne 
in mind that no boy is credited with more 
than four inches expansion, even if he does 
go beyond that. 

The following figures, taken last term from 
the records of a 7a class, will show the im- 
provement attained by one group of boys, 
the first figure in each column indicating the 
boy's i^cord at the beginning of the term, and 
the second figure, the record at the end: 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 87 





Chinning 


Comb. Dip 


Br. Jump 


H. S. & L. 


O'Connor 


times 
6-10 

6-14 

5-11 

2- 9 
4-18 
2- 9 
0- 6 
7-13 


times 
0- 9 

0-15 
10-15 

0-15 
12-32 

0-15 

2- 9 
15-37 


feet 

5 3-6 3 

46-53 
53-59 

5 3-6 9 

6 9-73 
5 -59 

53-59 
59-79 


feet 
20-26 


Colonel 


18-22 


Latronico . 


17-22 


Chaffee 


18-22 


Brooks 

Wolf 


20-30 
18-24 


Morse 


16-22 


Cartier 


22-32 







VII. THE PENTATHLON 

Athletic contests between schools are un- 
questionably a great help in developing what 
we call '' school spirit/' — that sense of unity and 
of pride in the institution of which we are a 
part. This appeals to all, whether contestants 
or not, but how much more keenly to those 
who take part, than to those who only look 
on ! It is such a fine thing to feel that we have 
helped to win that trophy for our school, 
that we took part in that contest and did our 
best, even though we did lose! 

Then why not give every one possible a 
chance to take an active part in the school 
athletic competitions? Why should that 
privilege be reserved for just a few, and that 
few very often not the most desirable mem- 
bers of the school.^ Why should the compe- 
titions be of such a character as necessarily 
to allow only a few to take part? Why 
shouldn't every one in good health be given 
the keen pleasure and the valuable training, 
physical and moral, that are the fruits of 

88 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 89 

honest athletic competition? And why should 
not the contests be of such a character as to 
engage the largest possible number and, at 
the same time, show the results of good all- 
around physical training? 

These are purely rhetorical questions, of 
course, and there is but one answer to them 
that is worth considering. Indeed the answer 
is so self-evident, that a number of- interest- 
ing plans have already been worked out by 
physical training directors in different parts 
of the country. 

''The Schoolboy Pentathlon" is our con- 
tribution to this phase of the work. It is our 
plan for inter-school athletics. For more than 
three years now our ''school team" has con- 
sisted of 80 per cent, of the boys on register 
in all the classes from the Fifth to the Eighth 
school year. We have challenged the schools 
in our neighborhood, large and small, to match 
their boys against ours, grade by grade, in a 
series of competitions. 

We have borrowed the old Greek idea of 
the Pentathlon, the five contests of which 
constitute an all-around championship. We 
have modified and substituted to meet con- 
ditions, so that we now offer two sets of exer- 



90 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 



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Fig. 19. — Pentathlon Trophy 



cises by way of variety, — one for use during 
the Fall Term, and one during the Spring 
Term. 



The Pentathlon 
Fall Term Spring Term 



Running 
Deep Breathing 
Combination Dip 
Standing Broad Jump 
Chinning the Bar 



Running 

Deep Breathing 

High Jump 

Hop, Step, and Leap 

Shot Put 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 91 

With the permission and encouragement of 
Dr. Taylor, District Superintendent, circulars 
were sent out to the various schools of the dis- 
trict, inviting them to compete. Five schools 
accepted the invitation. Next, circulars de- 
scribing the exercises were sent out, then 
conferences were held with representatives of 
these schools, and finally 2220 boys trained 
and competed. 

The parents of our boys liked the plan so 
well that a number of them contributed from 
one to ten dollars each to a fund to purchase 
a permanent set of trophies. About one hun- 
dred dollars was contributed in this way, with 
which a specially designed set of wooden 
plaques, with pendant bars for each grade, 
was purchased. {See Fig. 19.) These plaques 
remain in the possession of the school that 
wins them, until won by another school. 

Of the eight grade trophies (5a to 8b), 
four were won by our boys, two by Public 
School 13, one by Public School 42, and one 
by Public School 8. 

The manner of conducting these contests 
is very much like the Class Athletics con- 
ducted by the Public Schools Athletic League. 
Each school makes its own tests, sending in 



92 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

its report to a committee consisting of the 
special teacher of physical training and two 
men selected from the schools competing. 
These men compare the reports and, with 
the permission of the authorities, visit the 
schools claiming the highest average in each 
grade. 

If there are several classes in a grade, they 
draw lots and proceed to test the class so 
chosen. If that class equals the record they 
have sent in, it is presumed that the other 
classes will do the same and that the report 
is correct, the school being thereupon declared 
the whinner for that grade. If, how^ever, that 
class upon being tested fails to equal the 
record sent in, the report is presumed to be 
incorrect, the school that stood second being 
thereupon tested. \Yhere there are several 
grades to be tested in the same school, the 
members of the committee divide the classes 
between them, so that in two, or at the most, 
three afternoons, all the necessary testing can 
be done. Where one class claims an average 
very much higher than the others in the same 
school, we arrange that this class must also 
be tested by the committee. 

We claim for this method of conducting 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 93 

inter-school contests the following advan- 
tages : 

1. It does away with all questions of ''eligi- 
bihty" — the great stumbling block and 
source of scandal in amateur athletics. 

2. It actively engages practically every boy 
who is physically able to compete, — all re- 
sults being based on the achievements of 80 
per cent, of the register of each grade. 

3. It prevents all possibility of ''framing 
up'' a class, or training one class and neg- 
lecting the others. 

4. It gives every boy an incentive for vigor- 
ous training in good all-around exercises, while 
avoiding, absolutely, the danger of injury 
from over-training. 

The plan has now passed the experimental 
stage. It has been tried with success in two 
widely different sections of the city, — the 
crowded lower East Side of Manhattan, and 
the sparsely inhabited upper part of the 
Bronx. It has been approved and recom- 
mended for general adoption by the Board 
of Education of the City of New York, and is 
frankly offered as a substitute for the present 
style of inter-school athletics. 

Any other exercises having a real physical 



94 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 




RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 95 

training value, and capable of exact measure- 
ment, may be substituted at will. In con- 
ducting these inter-school competitions, we 
have, so far, used our ''point system" and 
minimum standards. But it would be quite 
feasible to disregard the minimum standards 
and the "points," simply taking the average 
in each event and awarding the prize to the 
grade winning the most events. 

Two neighboring schools could easily con- 
duct a dual ''meet" on a Field Day, by agree- 
ing in advance on a set of exercises, putting 
in the field 80 per cent, of their boys, and 
awarding the victory, as above suggested, to 
the school winning the majority of the events. 
Properly organized and handled, the boys of 
two large schools can be put through a set of, 
say, three events, in a little over two hours. 

A Field Day of Rational Athletics 

In the appendix will be found reproductions 
of three programs of Field Days conducted 
under this system in 1912, 1913, and 1914, 
respectively. 

In arranging a program for a Field Day, 
three factors must be considered: 



96 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

1. The amount of good and the amount of 
fun the children are going to get out of it. 

2. The time the program will take. 

3. The interest of the spectators in the 
various events. 

We find, as a result of our experience in the 
past three years, that we have succeeded per- 
fectly in the second of these factors, but not 
entirely in the first and third. 

With careful preparation and the hearty 
cooperation of the class teachers, who, men 
and women alike, have taken hold of this 
thing because they feel that this kind of ath- 
letics is worth while, we have been able to 
''put through" such elaborate programs as 
those referred to, in about two hours! When 
it is reahzed that over nine hundred boys took 
part in the games in 1912, and when the num- 
ber and variety of things they did is considered, 
this will seem almost incredible. 

With respect to the first factor referred to 
above, we have succeeded to a wonderful 
degree in making the games intensely inter- 
esting to all the pupils, — boys and girls alike. 
We have failed, however, in one respect, 
mainly because a few of the inter-class con- 
tests were so complicated that the results had 



I 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 97 

to be figured out afterward, thus making it 
impossible to announce, then and there, which 
class had won. This suspense rather spoiled 
the fun for the w^inning class. But we shall 
not make that mistake again. 

Another detail in which we failed is that, 
in order to equalize the numbers competing 
for certain classes, some children were barred 
who were ready and anxious to compete, — 
another mistake which we shall not repeat. 
Every boy and girl who has been favorably 
passed upon by the doctor, who wants to enter, 
and whose parents are w illing, will be given a 
chance to take part. 

In arranging the program for our next Field 
Day we shall (1) discard the minimum limits 
and the ''point system," taking simply aver- 
ages; and (2) limit to two the number of 
events to be competed for by each group, — 
one track and one field event. 

In this way it will be possible for the results 
to be announced immediately after the close 
of the competition and at the same time the 
proceedings will be so simplified that the spec- 
tators, interested parents mostly, can keep 
track of what is going on. The main fault in 
the past has been, not any lack of interest 



98 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

and enthusiasm on the part of the children, 
but rather that the proceedings have been 
somewhat bewildering to the spectator — 
rather too much hke a five-ringed circus, 
where you cannot possibly see everything. 

The program for our next Field Day will 
probably be something like this: 

8b Some running event and Shot Putting 

8a " " " " High Jump 

7b " " " " Pitching 

7a " " " " Hop, Step, and 

Leap 
6b " " " " Standing Broad 

Jump 
6a " " '' '' Combination Dip 

5b " " " " Chinning 

5a " " " " Deep Breathing 

This is, of course, only a tentative program. 
The exact arrangement of the events would 
be determined upon only a week or two before 
the Field Day, to prevent anything like 
speciahzing in certain exercises. 

Allowing five for a first, three for a second, 
and one for a third, the chances of a ''tie" in 
any event would be small. When a tie does 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 99 

occur, the toss of a coin should determine the 
victor. 

With such a program as this, there will not 
be too many events going on at once, the 
results can be announced immediately, the 
children will be satisfied in knowing who has 
won, and the spectators will be able to keep 
track of what is going on. 



^ 






/ 



# 



\ 

4 




Carolyn Miller: Best Girl Athlete 

Height, 5 ft. 4 in.; weight, 120 lbs.; Age, 13 yrs. 10 mo. 
Rating in Posture, 10; Alertness, 10; Running, 10; Hygiene, 10. 
Basket Ball Throw, bb ft.; Putting in Golf, Average, 2 holes out of 3: 

Tennis Serving, Average, 2 out of 3; Basket Ball Goals, 5 in 30 sec.; 

Baseball Throw, Average, 13 out of 15; Chest Expansion, 3 J in. 

100 



Mil. SOME EXPERIMENTS AVITH 

GIRLS 

The problem of physical training for girls 
has always been a knotty one. Prior to 
pubescence, girls differ so little from boys of 
the same age that they can be treated very 
much like boys, except that exliibitions that 
would be quite proper for boys would be bad 
even for small girls, because they might tend 
to destrov the maidenlv modestv that is, or 
should be, one of girlhood's greatest charms. 
AYe must carefully avoid anything that will 
tend to make our girls bold. 

When they reach the age of pubescence, 
physiological factors, requiring careful study 
on the part of those who attempt anything 
in the line of athletics for girls, enter into 
the problem. Athletic competitions, modeled 
upon the intensive style of athletics now in 
use among boys, have proved to be totally 
unsuitable for girls. So we have fallen back 
upon folk dancing, basket ball, walking clubs, 
and other such activities. 

101 



102 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

But we feel that a system of Rational 
Athletics, with exercises specially adapted to 
the tastes and the needs of girls, would be a 
long step toward the solution of this vitally 
interesting problem. To this end, we have 
been experimenting during the past year with 
a series of events designed to give our girls 
wholesome exercise, to develop skill, agility, 
and muscular coordination, and to arouse an 
interest in some good outdoor sports. With 
this idea in mind we have combined a great 
variety of running events (which always ap- 
peal to girls) with a set of exercises con- 
sisting of: 

1. Throwing a Baseball, — for accuracy. 

2. Serving in Tennis. 

3. Basket Ball Throwing, — for distance. 

4. "Putting," in Golf. 

5. ''Shooting Goals" with basket ball. 

This plan is still in the experimental stage. 
No standards and no system of points have 
yet been worked out. But judging by the way 
the Eighth Year girls took hold, and by the 
fact that the Seventh Year girls very soon 
asked to be allowed to try the new exercises 
also, we feel that we are on the right road. 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 103 

The lesson for girls is conducted in the same 
manner as the lesson for boys. There are six 
squads, — No. 1, going to the position for 
the Baseball Throw, No. 2, to Serving in 
Tennis, No. 3, to Putting in Golf, No. 4, to 




Fig. 20. — Floor Plan of Girls' Gymnasium Showing 
Arrangement of Squads 



Shooting Goals, Nos. 5 and 6, to Basket Ball 
Throw. (See Fig, 20.) 

One of the big gymnasium mats used by the 
boys in the Hop, Step, and Leap has a large 
target painted on the underside. It lies near 
a doorway which is equipped with ropes and 
pulleys so that the mat can be drawn up and 



104 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 



hung vertically. The girls stand about thirty- 
five feet away, each one in turn throwing 
three baseballs at the target. The bull's- 
eye is twenty inches in diameter, each ring 
being ten inches wide. A bull's-eye scores 
five; a first ring three; a second ring one; 










Fig. 21. — Target for Baseball Throwing 

outside of that, zero. The target is placed 
in a corner where no one is likely to be injured 
by the flying balls. One girl, who is sta- 
tioned behind a big pillar, picks up the balls 
and rolls them back. 

To teach the rudiments of serving a ball 
in tennis, a strip of cloth, three feet wide and 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 105 

about ten feet long, is fastened to the wall 
where there is no apparatus. The lower 
edge of the cloth is about the height of a 
tennis net above the floor. To place a ball in 
the service court, it must be put over the net, 
but not so high that it will go beyond the 
inner court on the other side. We consider 
that a ball which strikes the strip of cloth is 
''in." On our Field Day we rigged up two 
tennis nets, one above the other, with a gap 
of three feet between them. The girls, stand- 
ing at the distance of the service line, had to 
place the ball between the two nets. Anyone 
who thinks this is child's play is invited to 
try it! We know, however, that girls who 
never handled a racquet in their lives before 
are getting interested in the game. 

The Basket Ball Throw for distance is con- 
ducted in the same way, and on the same part 
of the floor which is marked out for the boys' 
Shot Putting. Two squads throwing from op- 
posite ends of the gymnasium keep two or 
three basket balls in lively circulation. 

Off in a quiet corner is another group of 
girls gathered around an ''Indoor Golf game, 
consisting of a small inclined plane with a 
cup in the middle. Sohd rubber balls the size 



106 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

of a golf ball are placed on the floor about 
three feet away from the plane, and, with a 
wooden ''putter/' the girls try to ''put" 
the ball into the hole. The ball rolling up the 
Httle incline is retarded very much the same 
as it would be by the grass on a "putting 
green." 

It may be the novelty of the idea, or it may 
be the fascination of "the grand old game," 
we don't yet know which, but we do know 
that the girls like this exercise immensely. 

We wish we could introduce practice in 
"driving," because it is such a magnificent 
exercise, and because it would help even more 
to awaken interest in the game and to make 
more and more of our girls, golf players. Inci- 
dentally, w^e don't know any better service 
that we could render them than this. But a 
"driver" sw^ings through such a large arc 
that it becomes a deadly weapon where a 
large number of children are practicing. 

Practice in shooting goals with a basket 
ball is taken by another squad, sometimes 
shooting from the "foul line," sometimes on 
the run, the ball being thrown at the player, 
who runs, "dribbles" once, and "shoots." For 
testing purposes, each girl is credited with 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 107 




Fig. 22. — The Girls' Squads in Action 

(Showing five squads at work, the sixth — throwing the basket ball 
— being out of range of the camera.) 



the number of times she can put the ball into 
the basket in thirty seconds, no one else being 
allowed to touch the ball during that time. 

The favorite running game is the potato 
race, using the same course, with the same 
modifications for the different years, as pre- 
viously described for the boys. {See page 44.) 
It will be found interesting to compare, occa- 
sionally, the time made by the girls with that 
made by the boys in corresponding classes. 
The girls, not infrequently, beat the boys at 
this exercise. 



108 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

The ''potato race" in any form is a mag- 
nificent exercise. It is keenly exciting, and 
develops both speed and control; while the 
stooping exercises the big muscles of the back 
and thighs, squeezes the viscera, forces deep 
breathing, and certainly stimulates the cir- 
culation. When all these results are secured 
in an atmosphere of keen enjoyment, we are 
getting nearly 100 per cent, of physical 
training value. 

With our physical training lessons organized 
in this way, we find that the attitude of both 
the teacher and the girls has changed. The 
former has to watch carefully to prevent 
girls from taking part on days when it is better 
for them to keep still, and the girls w^ho are 
excluded because they forgot to bring their 
rubber shoes are rather an aggrieved set of 
young ladies. Requests to be excused are 
rare, and that would seem to tell the story 
better than anything else. 

Unless all signs fail we shall have, in a year 
or two, a set of exercises for girls as complete 
and as interesting as those previously described 
for boys. 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 109 

Records of Eighth Year Girls 

The records, taken recently, of thirty 
Eighth Year girls, not selected, show an 
average distance of forty feet in the Basket 
Ball Throw; two out of three good ''serves" 
in tennis; a score of nine out of a possible 
fifteen points in throwing the baseball at the 
target; one ''put" out of three on the golf 
green; and three goals shot in thirty seconds. 
Considering that these girls have had less than 
one year of practice, these results are remark- 
ably good. 



IX. RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR 
ADULTS 

Any system of physical training that does 
not provide for a method of ''following up " 
is defective, in that it is hkely to be dropped 
after school. Let us see what there is in the 
exercises and the scoring system here pre- 
sented that will serve as a basis for home 
practice for the boys who have been trained 
in Rational Athletics and for men who are 
trying to keep in good condition. 

As w^e all know, it is one thing to select a 
good set of daily exercises, and quite another 
to practice or follow them up with no further 
stimulus than the hope of the benefit to be 
derived, which latter too often fades awav in 
the consciousness of sore muscles and stretched 
ligaments. Most of us must admit that we 
have not the necessary will power to persevere 
in such a course. 

To meet this generally acknowledged w^eak- 
ness, I would propose an adaptation of the 
methods we use in school, so that the man 
who starts out to exercise at home will have 

110 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 111 

a definite goal toward which to work and a 
norm by which to measure his progress. In 
other words he will be playing a game, just 
as one plays golf alone, striving to equal or 
beat his best previous score. 

Taking the five exercises used in school 
which may most easily be used at home, we 
adopt the minimum standards prescribed for 
8b boys (graduating class) with a maximum 
of seventy-five points to be striven for. 
The 'Hired business man" who can earn his 
seventy -five points, or anything near it, need 
not worry much about his condition! 

The writer would be ashamed to mention 
his score the first time he seriously tried this 
system on himself. But piqued pride is a 
powerful stimulant, so it wasn't long before 
he began to show improvement. He found, 
however, that there was quite a difference 
between demonstrating the exercises to classes 
of boys or conferences of teachers, and ex- 
tending himself ''to go the limit" in any one 
of them. 

The exercises that lend themselves best to 
use at home are: Running (in place); Chin- 
ning the Bar; Combination Dip; Trunk Lift- 
ing, and Deep Breathing. 



112 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

Running in place, going through the mo- 
tions of running, without advancing, will be 
found vigorous enough exercise if kept up, 
lifting the feet well at each step, keeping up 
''on the toes," not allowing the heels to 
touch the floor. Say we fix a minimum of 
one minute, for which we allow five points 
credit; continued for two minutes, ten points; 
for three minutes, fifteen points, calling the 
last, the maximum. 

For Chinning the Bar, the 8b standard 
will do; namely, seven times, five points; 
twelve times, ten points; seventeen times, 
fifteen points. 

For Combination Dip the standards are the 
same as in Chinning: seven times, five points; 
twelve times, ten points; seventeen times, 
fifteen points. 

For Trunk Lifting, fifteen times, five points; 
twenty times, ten points; twenty -five times, 
fifteen points. Trunk Lifting consists in 
lying flat on the back, arms folded, and rais- 
ing the body to a sitting position without 
letting the heels leave the floor. 

In Chest Expansion for boys, two and one- 
half inches equals five points; three inches, 
eight points ; three and one-half inches, eleven 



RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 113 

points; four inches, fifteen points. For men 
I should add an inch to these requirements, 
making the minimum three and one-half 
inches and the maximum five inches. The 
writer does five and one-half inches easily, but 
sees no advantage in trying to increase his ex- 
pansion. In this, as in all our other exercises, 
we are not striving to break records by 
specializing, but rather to build up a good 
average in normal health. 

A Record Card, showing the standards and 
spaces for recording progress, is shown. 



Running 
















Chinnine 
















Comb. Dip 
















Trunk Lifting . . . 
















Chest Expansion 

































1 

2 
3 


mm. 


5 pts 
10 ** 
15 " 


7 

n 

17 


times 

a 
<< 


5 " 
10 " 
15 " 


7 
12 
17 




5 " 
10 '' 
15 " 


15 
20 
25 


« 


5 " 
10 *' 
15 " 


(3a) 2a inches 

(4) 3 '* 
(4^)31 " 

(5) 4 " 


5 " 

8 '' 
11 " 
15 " 



Fig. 23. — ^The Adult's Record Card 

{Shoioing the ''tired business man'' how he may best keep tally of his 
own physical development.) 



114 RATIONAL ATHLETICS FOR BOYS 

This, briefly stated, is our plan for adapting 
Rational Athletics to home practice for adults 

and for boys who have left school. The man 

t/ 

who succeeds in earning the maximum of 
seventy-five points is allowed figuratively to 
pin upon himself a Rational Athlete's Senior 
Medal. 



APPENDIX 



116 APPENDIX 

Hn lEibibition of IRational Htbletics 

Tuesday, May 28, 1912, at 1:15 P.M. 

PROGRAM 

PART I 

I. Inter-ck\ss Rel.\y Sack Race 
4A1, 4A2 and 3Be 

Teams of 36 boys from each class 

11. Inter-class Relay Potato Race 
4B1, 4Ae1 and 4Ae2 

Teams of 30 boys from each class 

III. Inter-class Contest in "Trunk Lifting" 

4Be1, 4Be2 and 4Be3 

Entire class (except those excluded by the Doctor). 
Groups of 5 from each class (15) tested at once. 
"Trunk Lifting" consists of lying on the back and 
raising oneself to a sitting position. 

IV. Inter-class Contest in the "Combination Dip" 

5A1, 5A2, 5B1, 5B2 

(Same as above) 

The "Combination Dip" consists of resting on hands 
and toes, touching chest to the ground and ris- 
ing, three times, then springing to standing 
position. 

V. Inter-class Contest in the "Standing Broad 
Jump." 

5Ae2 and 5ae3 

(Same as above) 



APPENDIX 117 

PROGRAM 

(Continued) 
VI. Inter-class Contest in "Chinning the Bar" 

5Be1 and 5Be2 

Vn. Inter-class Flag Relay Race 

6A1, 6A2, 6B1, QB2, 6B3 

Vin. Inter-class Contest in "Hop, Step and Leap" 
6Ae1, 6Ae2 and 6Ae3 

IX. Inter-class Contest in "Shot Put" 

GBeI and 6Be2 

The boys use a 6 lb. medicine ball instead of a shot, 
as it is safer. 

PART II 

X. All-around Contest 

oAeI and oBe3 

A selected team of boys from these two classes will 
compete in all the following exercises: 

1. Chinning the Bar 5. Hop, Step and Leap 

2. Chest Expansion 6. Truntc Lifting 

3. Broad Ju^ip 7. Shot Put 

4. Combination Dip 8. Running (60 3^ds.) 

They will thus give an exhibition of the training 
every boy in the school receives in the course 
of the vear. 



118 



APPENDIX 



FIELD DAY 

Thursday, June 5, 1913, at 1:30 p.m. 

INTER-CLASS CONTESTS — BOYS 

I 



8B. Red* 
8 A. Blue 

vs. 
7 B 1. Green 
7B2. Pink 



1. Flag Relay, Scratch, J of the track 

2. Shot Put (Handicap 2 ft. for 7 B) 

3. Hop, Step and Leap (Handicap for 
height) 

II 

1. Flag Relay, one-sixth of the track 

2. Combination Dip 

III 

1. Class Running (60 Yards) 

2. Standing Broad Jump 

IV 

1. Shuttle Relay (50 Yards) 

2. Deep Breathing 

V- 

5BK Light Blue ^ ^^^^ Running (40 yaixis) 
5 B ^ ''karoon ^' Chinning the Bar 



7 A ^ Lavender 

vs. 
7 A 2. Purple 

6BK White 

vs. 
6B2. Orange 

6 A 1. Cerise 

vs. 
6A\ Yellow 



5A\ Lt. Green 

vs. 
5 A 2. Gray 


VI 

1. Sack Relay 

2. Trunk Lifting 


4B. Tan 

vs, 
4 A. Dk. Brown 


VII 

Class Running (40 Yards) 



* The color assigned to each class will be carried by the runner or otherwise 
displayed so that the spectators may distinguish the classes. 



APPENDIX 



119 



Yin 

RUNNING BROAD JUMP 

(for boys under 95 lbs.) 



No. 


Name 


Class 


Xo. 


Xame 


Class 


38 


McDonald, Daniel 


7B 1 


51 


Hurley, Edward 


5B 1 


39 


Gorman, William 


7B1 


52 


Cowper, Joseph 


5B2 


40 


Barnes, William 


8A 


53 


Donato, Dominic 


6A2 


41 


Collins, John 


8A 


54 


Diehl, Francis 


8B 


42 


Rogers, Robert 


8A 


55 


McBride, John 


6B2 


43 


Millard, Orson 


8A 


56 


Kalbach, Charles 


6B2 


44 


McGrath, Martin 


7 A2 


57 


Buckley, James 


5 A2 


45 


Brown, Leroy 


7A2 


58 


Bull, Norman 


7 Al 


46 


Cutter, Harold 


7 A2 


59 


McBride, James 


7 A 1 


47 


Corbet t, William 


7 A2 


60 


Altheimer, Melville 


7 Al 


48 


Heineman, Nathan 


7 A2 


61 


Kearns, Burtsell 


7B2 


49 


Mundorf, Anton 


7 A2 


62 


Thorn, Sanford 


8B 


50 


Marra, Anthony 


7 A_2 


63 


Zubrod, Paul 


8B 


Won 


by 


..2nd 




3rd 




Distance 











INTER-CLASS CONTESTS — GIRLS 
IX 



8B. Red 

vs. 
8 A. Dark Blue 



1. Obstacle Relay 

2. Captain Ball 



7 B ^ Green 

vs. 
7B2. Pink 



6B. White 

vs. 
6 A, Maroon 



oB. Light Blue 

vs. 
5 A. Yellow 

4 B. Lavender 

vs. 
4 A, Purple 



1. Flag Relay (one-sixth of the track) 

2. End Ball 

XI 

1. Potato Shuttle Relav 

2. Basket Ball Throw "^ 

XII 

1. Needle and Thread Race 

2. Dodge Ball 

XIII 

1. All Up Relav 

2. Pass Ball 



120 



APPENDIX 



XIV 
EXHIBITION DRILL 

BY 45. SELECTED BOYS 

This drill is the same that will be given in Central Park 
on June 6, bv 10,000 bo vs. 



XV 
80 YARD DASH (Handicap) 



(unlimited weight) 



No. Name 

1 Shultz, Arthur 

2 Louden, Ralph 

3 Sheridan, Robert 

4 Schneider, Wilham 

5 Sattler, Albert 

6 Wines, Harris 

7 Stanlisso, Eric 

8 Machlett, Raymond 

9 Gladwin, Harold 

10 Buckley, WilUam 

11 Brown, Charles 

12 Kidd, James 

13 Brunner, Fred. 

14 Olsen, George 

15 Kempler, Leo 

16 Cotter, John 

17 Hale, Nathan 

18 Cowan, Everette 

19 Bulter, Cornelius 

TRIAL HEATS 



Class 



7B 
7B 



1 
1 

7B 1 

8A 

8A 

8 A 

8 A 

8 A 

8 A 

8B 

6B 1 

6 B 1 

6 B 1 

6B 1 

6B 1 

6B 1 

6 B 1 

6B2 

6B2 



Nai 



No. 

20 Homer, Alfred 

21 Ga\dn, Percy 

22 Gorman, Raymond 

23 Severance, Erastus 

24 Arra, James 

25 Warner, Stanley 

26 Nealey, Wilham 

27 Kunzman, Herbert 

28 Theise, James 

29 Morse, MajTiard 

30 MacDonald, Allen 

31 Sustman, John 

32 Keeler, Arthur 

33 Burnside, George 

34 Holland, John 

35 Hamman, George 

36 Widrewitz, Belmont 

37 Mackintosh, Walter 



Class 

6B2 
6A2 
6A 1 
6A1 
6A 1 
6 A 1 
6A1 

6 A 1 
6A 1 
5B 1 
5B 1 
7B 1 
7B 2 

7 B 2 
8B 
8B 
8B 
8B 



1.... 


2 3 




SEMI-FINAL 


1... 


2 3 


1 


2 . 3 




FINAL 


1.... 


2 3 



APPENDIX 



121 



FIELD DAY 

Friday, May 15, 1914, at 9 a. m. 

INTER-CLASS CONTESTS— BOYS 
I. Pentathlon 



8B1. Red 


1. 


Running — 80 yards 




8B2. Blue 


2. 


Deep Breathing (Chest Expansion) 




8A. Green 


3. 


Shot Put 






4. 


Hop, Step and Leap 






5. 


Trunk Lifting 
II. Pentathlon 




7B1. Pink 


1. 


Running — 60 yards 




7B2. Lavender 


2. 


Deep Breathing 




7A1. Purple 


3. 


Chinning the Bar 




7A2. White 


4. 


Combination Dip 






5. 


Standing Broad Jump 
III. 




6B1. Orange 


1. 


Flag Relay 




QB2. Cerise 


2. 


Hop, Step and Leap 
IV. 




6A1. Yellow 


1. 


Class Running — 50 yards 




6A2. Light Blue 


2. 


Standing Broad Jump 

V. 

Shuttle Relay 




5B. Maroon 


1. 




5A1. Light Green 


2. 


Trunk Lifting 




5A2. Gray 




VI. 




4BL Tan 




Potato Race 




4B2. Dark Brown 




\IL 




4AL Red and White 


Sack Race 




4A2. Blue and W^hite 






The color assigned to each class will be carried by the runner or otherwise dis- 


played so that the spectators 


} may distinguish the classes. 








Vlll; 




80 YARD DASH (Unlimited Weight) 




No. Name 




Class No. Name 


Class 


1 Burns! de, George 




8B1 4 Oneil, Jack 


8B1 


2 Irving, Edgar 




8B1 5 Tighe, Joseph 


8B2 


3 Keeler, Arthur 




8B1 6 Sheridan, Robert 


8B2 



122 



APPENDIX 



No. Name Class 

7 Hanecke, Ed\^-in HB2 

8 Duernberger, Walter 8B2 

9 Marra, Anthony 8A 

10 Heineman, Nathan 8A 

11 Egan, Eugene 8A 
U Goldman, Milton 8A 

13 Hughes, Harold 8A 

14 Cotter, John 7Bl 

15 Flomer, Alfred 7B1 

TRIAL HEATS 

1 2 3 

1 2 3 

1 2 3 

1 2 3 

1 2 3 



No. Name Class 

16 Kuestner, Wilbert 6B1 

17 Hynes, Eugene 6B2 

18 Manco, Joseph 6BZ 

19 Sustman, George 5A1 

20 Morgenweck, Adolph 5Al 

21 Biasotti, Alfred 5A2 

22 Unger, John 5A2 

23 Brunner, Fred 7Bl 

24 Freeman, Stuart 7Bl 

1 2 2 

SEMI-FINAL 

1 2 3 

1 2 3 

FINAL 

1 1...2 3 



INTER-CLASS CONTESTS — GIRLS 



IX 

8B1. Red 1. All Up Relay (Modified) 

8B2. Blue 2. Baseball Throw, for accuracy 

8A. Green 3. Captain Ball 



7B. Pink 
7A1. Purple 
7A2. White 



X 

1. Obstacle Relay 

2. Tennis Serving 

3. End Ball 



6B1. Orange 
6B2. Cerise 
6A1. Yellow 
6A2. Lt. Blue 



5B. Maroon 
oAl. Lt. Green 
5A2. Gray 



4B. Tan 

4A. Dk. Bro\Mi 



XI • 

1. Flag Relay 

2. Basket Ball Throw, for distance 



1. 



XII 

Needle and Thread Race 
Dodge Ball 

XIII 

Potato Race 
Pass Ball 



APPENDIX 



123 



60 YARD DASH (Boys under 95 lbs.) 



No. 


Name 


Class 


No. 


25 


Guerriero, Thomas 


8B1 


64 


26 


Daglish, Walter 


8B1 


65 


27 


Kearns, Robert 


8B1 


66 


28 


Sustman, John 


8B2 


67 


29 


Gorman, William 


8B2 


68 


30 


Heine, Walter 


8B2 


69 


31 


Corbett, William 


8A 


70 


32 


Brown, Leroy 


8A 


71 


33 


Cutter, Harold 


8A 


72 


34 


Zubrod, JuUus 


8A 


73 


35 


Mmidorf, Anton 


8A 


74 


36 


Lynch, Frank 


7B1 


75 


37 


Kalbach, Charles 


7B1 


76 


38 


McQuaid, George 


7B2 


77 


39 


McKenna, Cline 


7B2 


78 


40 


Hale, Nathan 


7B2 


79 


41 


KinseUa, Walter 


7A1 


80 


42 


Severance, Erastus 


7A1 


81 


43 


Theise, James 


7A1 


82 


44 


Harbeck, Frank 


7A1 


83 


45 


Byrne, Victor 


7A1 


84 


46 


Biasotti, Edward 


7A1 


85 


47 


Warner, Stanley 


7A1 


86 


48 


Brooks, Seth 


7A2 


87 


49 


Chaffee, Clarence 


7A2 


88 


50 


O'Connor, Albert 


7A2 


89 


51 


Keene, Simon 


6B1 


90 


52 


McGinnis, Simon 


6B1 


91 


53 


Schultz, Herbert 


6B1 


92 


54 


Bronte, Emery 


6B2 


93 


55 


Hunter, Paul 


6B2 


94 


56 


Fried, Fred 


6B2 


95 


57 


MacDonald, Allan 


6B2 


96 


58 


Keller, John 


6B2 


97 


59 


Reilly, Raymond 


6B2 


98 


60 


Millard, Harry 


6B2 


99 


61 


Long, David 


6A1 


100 


62 


Greenwald, Philip 


6A1 


101 


63 


Byrne, Frank 


6A1 


102 



Name 


Class 


Mazzotti, Ferdinand 


6A1 


Weis, Arthur 


6A1 


Heineman, Fred 


6A1 


Newman, George 


6A1 


SuUivan, John 


6A1 


Hunter, Robert 


6A1 


Finnegan, William 


6A1 


Buckley, William 


6A1 


Cassidy, Francis S. 


6A2 


Hjrsch, Lawrence 


6A2 


Murphy, Francis 


6A2 


Quinn, James 


6A2 


Sternschuss, Arnold 


6A2 


Biasotti, Da\'id 


5A1 


De Santis, Frank 


5A1 


Tench, Donald 


5A1 


Hansen, Lawrence 


5A1 


Arbucho, Paul 


5A2 


Longa, Alfred 


5A2 


Wain Wright, Paul 


5A1 


Helahan, John 


5A2 


Davis, Franklin 


5A2 


Dennerlein, Herbert 


5A2 


Hohnsted, Henry 


5A2 


Woerner, Albert 


5B 


Corbett, Frank 


5B 


Enders, Carl 


5B 


Burnside, William 


5B 


Bailey, John 


5B 


Reilly, John 


5B 


Donohoe, Albert 


5B 


Ashley, Anthony 


5B 


Eraser, Daniel 


5B 


Shaw, Raymond 


5B 


Duernberger, Elwood 


5B 


Cowan, David 


5B 


Mahoney, Jerome 


5B 


Brown, Edward 


5B 


Pagharo, Frank 


7B1 



SEMI-FINALS 

1st Heat — Won by 2nd Time 

2nd " " " 2nd Time 

3rd " " " 2nd Time 



FINAL 

Won by 2nd 3rd 4th 

N.B. — Trials were run off previously. 



.Time 



INDEX 



Adults, 110 

Aldinger, Dr., 10, 35 ff. 

Apparatus 

Low cost, 39. 
Athletics 

Money spent on, 23 S. 

Baseball Throw 

Method, 103 

Standards, 104 
Basket Ball 

Shooting Goals, 106 

Chest Expansion 

Method, 60 

Standards, 48 
Chinking the Bar 

Method, 68 

Standards, 45, 53 
Class Athletics, 83, 91 ff. 
College Heroes, 28 
Combination Dip 

Method, 71 ff. 

Standards, 46, 54 
Commercialism, 29 
Crampton, Dr., 10, 22, 34 ff., 82 Inter-school Contests, 18, 

88 ff. 
Deep Breathing 

Method, 59 ff. Neglecting the Many, 30 

Standards, 48, 54 New York Course of Study, 34 



Emulation 

Individual against self, 18 

Class, 18 

Grade, 18 

School, 18 
Exaltation of the Individ- 
ual, 27 

Field Day, 95 ff. 
Following up Rational Ath- 
letics, 110 

Girls' Athletics, 101 
Golf — Putting in, 105 

Height, 37 
High Jump 

Method, 75 

Standards, 47, 54 
Honor of the School, 88 
Hop, Step, and Leap 

Method, 6Q, 74 

Standards, 47, 54 
Hygiene, 34, 41 



Eligibility, 50 



Overtraining the Few, 30 ff. 



124 



INDEX 



125 



Pentathlon, 88 ff. 
Physical Training 

Aims in, 16 

Records, 35 jff. 

Lesson, 34 
Pitching, 79 ff. 
Potato Race 

Subst. for dist. running, 44 

Method, 44, 107 

Standards, 44 f. 
Programs for Field Days, 

116 ff. 
Putting in Golf, 105 

Records 

Individual, 35 ff., 87 

Class, 87, 109 

Grade, 51 ff. 

School, 83, 91 
Results, Fall Term, 1914, 52 
Running 

Method, 41 ff. 

Standards, 44 

Senior Athlete, 49 
Serving in Tennis, 104 f. 
Shooting Goals, 106 



Shot Put 

Method, 66, 77 

Standards, 48, 54 
Specialization, 25 
Squads 

Organization, 55 

Classroom Work, 5Q 

Gymnasium Work, 62, 102 
ff. 
Standards 

Basis for, 51 ff. 
Standing Broad Jump 

Method, 68 

Standards, 46, 53 

Tennis Service 

Method, 104 

Standards, 105 
Throwing Baseball, 103 
Throwing Basket Ball, 105 
Trophies 

Class, 83, 88 ff. 

School, 83, 88 ff. 
Trunk Lifting, 54 

Weighing, 37 

Wingate, Gen. Geo. W., 5, 9 



